Prophecy
by MysticChaos
Summary: What if 3 teens, from our world, are thrown into the YGO world? What if there is a danger that will send both worlds into chaos? What would you do? What would you do if you were a prophecy? Humor included. Even though it's done, please review.
1. Chapter 1 Overload

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Prophecy

Disclaimer: I have three cents and a piece of gum. Is that enough to buy Yu-Gi-Oh?

Written by MysticChaos (Erica)

Supported by candy-animelover600 (Jennie)

Screamed at by Vegeta001 (Jackie)

(A/N: This was made by me, but Jennie was that one who gave me…erm…**some **of the ideas. Jackie…just blackmailed me for him to be in the story. Check out Jen's fan fiction archive on this website. Jackie doesn't exist on this site though… Oh yeah, let me warn you. This story is an OC story, new characters, and the main characters in this story have nothing to do with the people above. It's just my imagination going on strike with the names. Yugi and his group are basically bystanders, except for Bakura and Seto Kaiba. If you like this, then please continue. Sorry for the delay.)

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 1- Overload

A girl with dark brown, long hair was hiding in the midst of her blankets, watching an exclusive episode of Yu-Gi-Oh. As Joey was blasted out of the duel, the lass yawned and growled slightly, "Joey's so weak…why is he even in the show?"

Suddenly the power flickered and went off. Immediately the girl's mom yelled, "Erica! Fix the power line!"

The girl replied, "Whyyyyy?"

"Because you know how to fix it!"

"Mom!"

"Erica…"

"Fine!"

Muttering under her breath, Erica jumped off her comfy bed and stomped down to the basement, carrying a flashlight. Soon, she reached the foundation of the house, fiddling with several switches. A few times people across the street shrieked as their power line went off.

"Whoops…" Erica murmured, flipping the switches back. Slowly, the girl got to where she wanted and the power flashed back on. "Niiiiiiice!"

Suddenly, she felt a sucking motion on the bottom of her feet. Looking down, she saw a large black hole growing larger and larger. With an anguished yell, she fell in, the hole disappearing as soon as it had appeared.

-

(A/N: I know the chapter was really short, but I'm updating four chapters here. It'll get longer. Trust me.)


	2. Chapter 2 Leave a Message After the Beep

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Prophecy

Disclaimer: I own the plot, ideas, the characters, and nothing else. Isn't that so sad?

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

(A/N: Just to tell you, the story takes place after Duelist Kingdom…Yeah, I know. I'm an old-timer with these series….)

Chapter 2 - Leave a Message After the Beep

A female ran out of school, quickly waving to her high school peers. As soon as she was out of school boundaries, she flipped open her cell phone, her light brown braided hair swaying in the wind.

A familiar voice said, "Sorry, But I'm not here right now, so please leave a message after the beep. If you continue to call me, though, I will change this message and say, 'DO YOU NOT HAVE A LIFE?' Thank you."

Another friend of the girl waved goodbye, but the female didn't notice. She turned off the cell phone and narrowed her eyes.

'Erica always picks up her cell phone…' she wondered.

Suddenly the air grew humid and warm. Annoyed she took off her jacket, name tag saying 'Jennie Han.' Then a strong wind blew at Jennie. The female resisted, but the wind only got stronger. With a mighty heave, the air stream blew Jennie into a black hole in the sky, the girl yelling shrilly with panic.

"HELP ME!"

In a minute, she was gone, the temperature growing cool again.

-

(A/N: Yes, another short one….that's why I'm writing four chapters here. Trust me, it'll get longer…like I said before. )


	3. Chapter 3 Junk

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Prophecy

Disclaimer: If I own the Yu-Gi-Oh company, I would do nothing and sleep for all my days…and pay bills.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 3 - Junk

_Ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong_ the doorbell dinged as a boy with glasses and black hair pressed the bell. No one answered. Scratching his head, he used his reading text book to bang on the door. Still no one answered.

"That's strange," he said quietly. "Erica promised that I would study with her for the comprehension test. She should be home…"

Then he went to Erica's window and yelled, "YO, RACCOON! YOU THERE?"

No response.

Extremely puzzled, he spotted his friend's cell phone in the grass. Picking it up, he wondered why Erica would leave her precious cell on the ground. Suddenly, the cell phone rang, with the caller ID showing Jennie Han's phone number. Startled, the boy dropped the phone, breaking it on the gravel. Now he was staring at the busted phone.

"Erica is soooooooo going to pulverize me!" he whined, poking at the broken junk.

Sighing, he got up and looked around, his necklace glimmering, 'Jackie Lu' in Chinese. Then abruptly the grass shifted and a hole appeared right below Jackie's feet. Surprised and fearful, he tried to back away, but the pit had already taken hold and tossed him into the black abyss, yelling in fear.

Only the cell phone remained now, only as junk.

-

(A/N: Okay, readers, who-have-reached-this-far-not-bored-yet! The next chapter will be a bit longer and the point in where the story starts!)


	4. Chapter 4 Escape

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Prophecy

Disclaimer: …If I owned YGO, I wouldn't be here writing this, would I?

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 4 - Escape

Seto Kaiba, the leader of the Kaiba cooperation, presented an electrical portal to his loyal contributors, smiling smugly. The portal was working exactly as Kaiba had predicted. Anytime now, a superior creature will walk through, changing history forever.

"Gentlemen," he said grandly, "you are about to witness a new technology step as I present you a creature never seen before. Welcome to the new era!"

The portal grew silent. Then a slipper bounced out of it, falling in front of Kaiba. A person behind him coughed. Slightly puzzled, he picked the slipper up. As he did so, a girl shot out of the machine, crashed into Seto, and onto the floor. The dark, brown haired girl moaned and sat up, shaking her head. Then she faced Kaiba, who was a bit angry (understatement). With a squeak and big eyes, she fainted, leaving Seto feeling awkward and embarrassed. _This_ was the superior creature?

Erica woke up groggy and dizzy. Practically unconscious, she got up and looked around. Immediately she noticed that she wasn't at home. Instead she was in a fancy room in a four poster bed and a lot of electronic stuff.

Walking to a nearby computer (after making sure her clothes were still on; it was), she turned the power on and an electronic voice said, "Welcome, Mr. Kaiba. Please type in your password."

Erica stared slightly at the machine. 'Seto Kaiba? Is this some kind of evil, perverted, fan boy's computer!'

She looked at the password next, and in two seconds she leaned back, whining, "Ugh…Jackie's better at hacking than I am!"

Then she spotted a Blue Eyes White Dragon at the corner. Getting a sudden idea, she typed in a possible choice and pressed enter. With a blink, files and a few windows popped up, showing a portal of some kind. Erica punched the air in victory and turned serious, reading the reports with wide eyes.

"I came from a portal!" she yelled. Taking deep breaths, Erica memorized some of the data. Then she went to the door to see if anyone was there.

Knowing that she was an experiment, who knew what _they _were going to do to her. Tip-toeing, the girl went past an open door. Stopping, her curiosity took over and Erica just had to look. Peeking, she saw a too familiar man, talking on the phone and typing on his laptop.

"Seto Kaiba…" Erica whispered.

Ironically, the man heard and looked up, meeting eye to eye with the girl. Seto Kaiba narrowed his eyes and pressed a button next to him. An alarm sound, startling Erica. Angry, she gave Kaiba the middle finger and ran off toward the exit.

Erica only barely reached the door, but it was locked. Getting a pot, she threw it at the door which made it break open. This was no time to care about property damage. Running down the steps and into the streets, Erica used all her energy just to run a few yards away from Seto's guards. When she had finally ran long enough, she collapsed and started to cry.

"Jennie, Jackie…I need help!" she sobbed.

As is in response, the sky rumbled and two figures fell from the sky, screaming. They fell on top of the crying Erica, knocking her unconscious.

Jennie saw who broke her fall and jumped off of her friend, pushing Jackie back since he didn't notice that he was crushing their friend.

"What the hell happened?" the boy muttered, giving Erica a piggy back ride. "And, damn, she's heavy…"

Jennie was just about to snap at the repulsive boy, but was interrupted when they saw men running at them. Curious, but suspicious, they stood where they were until they caught up.

"Release the girl," one of the guards said.

Jackie's frowned as he saw the Kaiba trademark on their uniforms and nudged Jennie about it. She nodded, instantly catching Jackie's drift that they didn't mean anything good.

"Oh, her? She's our sister. She disappeared suddenly so we came to find her." Jennie lied smoothly. Jackie gave the girl a skeptical look, but nodded along with her.

The guards looked among each other and the leader said with uncertainty, "But we saw her come out of the portal and-"

Jackie said darkly, lying too, "You're saying that you kidnapped our sister?"

The leader fumbled and shook his head. "If she is your sister then our apologies for chasing her."

"You'd better," Jennie growled. Then she pushed Jackie ahead of her, walking away, leaving the guards confused.

-

(A/N: Erm…yeah…I thought this was long. Uh…well, this is a trial thing. If I don't get much reviews, at least three, then I'm taking this off. I don't really expect this to get many reviews...Well, RR!)


	5. Chapter 5 New Path

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Prophecy

Disclaimer: The ideas are mine. The show is not. The main characters are mine. Yugi and his friends are not. However, I would make them suffer the world of DOOM! GAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahem. Sorry.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 5 - New Path

Erica sighed with relief as she sat down on the grass. "Thanks for rescuing me even if you did sit on me before."

Jackie and Jennie sat next to their friend and said together, "We're the three musketeers!"

Erica rolled her eyes, but smiled.

Then Jackie said with depression, "How did we get here and how do we get out?"

Jennie added, "And where did we get these ridiculous clothes?"

The trio looked at themselves and practically laughed. Jennie was wearing a red turtleneck shirt with big sleeves and white jeans, Jackie had black shorts, a green vest, and a sable T-shirt, and Erica had a blue coat, baggy pants, and a white shirt. All of them had a card holder that held no cards. They were clothes that only the anime world would wear.

"We're really not in Kansas anymore," Jennie commented. The other two agreed.

Then Erica asked, "So! How'd you guys get here? I got here by a portal set up by Seto Kaiba. Don't ask, long story."

Jackie and Jennie looked at each other. Then shrugged.

"Hole," the two responded.

"Tried to call you," Jennie said.

"Broke your cell," Jackie said carelessly after.

"You WHAT?" the girlsyelled, fingers ready to poke the boy to death.

Luckily, Jackie was saved when voices came near them. Erica dragged her friends behind a bench to watch the group go by. They all wore Domino High School uniforms and in the center of the group was no other than Yugi Moto.

"Should we…?" started Jennie, but Jackie shook his head.

Erica gave a puzzled look at Jackie, not comprehending in why he said no. So she stood up and walked out from behind the bench. Jackie tried to grab Erica back, but ended up falling over instead, tripping Jennie over to the other side. The group stopped talking and stared at the trio.

"Hi! I'm Eri-" Erica started, but Jennie clamped her mouth shut.

Jennie whispered to her, "They're going to ask questions in where we came from, so shut up!" Then she spoke to Yugi's gang, "She's nobody and you never saw us!"

Jackie stood up and pushed the two out of the area, but Joey (seeing Jennie; nudge, nudge, wink, wink) stopped them and said, "You're not from here, are ya?"

Jennie glared at Erica, giving her an it's-all-your-fault look, and Jackie sighed, answering, "No. We just transferred from America today."

Jennie and Erica looked at the male incredulously. He was lying in who they were again.

Jackie just shrugged at his friends and whispered, "Hey, it's the safest way I can answer!"

Yugi then stepped forward and greeted, "Nice to meet you! I'm Yugi Moto and these are my friends: Teá Gardner-"

The short-haired brunette girl waved.

"-Tristen Taylor-"

The spiky-hared dude said, "Yo."

"-And that's Joey Wheeler!"

The blond boy smiled brightly.

"Like we don't know them already," Jennie muttered under her breath. Erica snickered.

Jackie nodded at the four. Then Teá clapped her hands and said, "Hey, why won't we invite them to your grandpa's game shop?"

Yugi's face perked up and looked hopefully at the trio. Jennie, Jackie, and Erica looked at each other with uncertainty, but slowly they nodded.

* * *

Erica watched Tristen and Joey argue heatedly while Jackie and Jennie looked at Yugi's cards with awe and amazement. 

"So you're saying that if you combine Dark Magician with Dark Ritual, then you get Magician of Black Chaos?" Jackie asked.

Yugi nodded bashfully as Jennie took the Dark Ritual card and started to run around with it, Jackie asking to get it back. Erica casually sipped her tea and watched every single person with close attention. Tired, Jackie plopped down next to Erica, making her spill her tea.

"RETARD! Look what you made me do!" she yelled, bashing the boy on the head.

Everyone watched with shock. Even Joey and Tristen stopped arguing.

Jennie shook her head and answered, "Erica kinda has a split personality. One time she's normal and calm, while the other is loud and violent. Most of the time she's loud and violent."

Jennie stopped for a few seconds as she watched Erica chase Jackie out the door with Yugi's grandfather's broom. Then she whispered, "Never, ever, give her chocolate."

Erica's voice yelled outside, "I HEARD THAT!"

* * *

"Now what?" Jackie asked as the three walked down the road, walking past a couple of shops. 

Erica shrugged and Jennie sighed with hopelessness, "Find a place to stay."

"Yeah, but where?" Jackie inquired.

Jennie was now the one to shrug.

"I miss my parents," Erica said mournfully.

"Even if they are annoying," Jackie and Jennie chorused.

The trio leaned against the road's railing, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly a car stopped by them and a man around the forties yelled, his voice thick with worry, "Where were you three? I was looking all over for you!"

Jackie's eyes grew large as he said loudly, "Uncle Tien-Xiang!"

Jennie and Erica looked at each other then at Jackie.

"You know him?" Jennie asked.

Jackie nodded and whispered as the three got into the car, "He's my uncle. He disappeared years ago and was never found…until now."

Erica poked the driver who was supposedly Jackie's uncle and politely questioned, "Are you Mr. Tien-Xiang and how do you know about us?"

The uncle replied in a calm voice, "I'll explain everything at the mansion."

"A MANSION?" Jennie said shrilly.

Soon, the people reached a white manor that seemed some miles away from the city. The house was elegant, gardens in geometric patterns, and inside the house, the ceiling was so high, it was at least tall as a four story building. Everything was made out of marble and the chandeliers were made from crystals.

"I can get used to this!" Jennie said, obviously impressed.

After stopping into a room, the uncle silently asked for the three to sit down as he unlocked a mahogany cupboard, bringing a simple shoebox to the glass coffee table. Before he opened the box, though, Jackie's uncle made a speech to the sixteen year olds.

"I bet you're wondering how the hell you got here," the man started. (Erica: I like this guy! He curses- Jennie: Shut up.) "Well, to start with, I deliberately disappeared here since I was being hunted down for my dimension travel machine. You know of this, right, nephew?"

Jackie nodded gravely.

"So, I used my own dimension portal to get here, but there is trouble, though no one knows of it. Since the evil yamis of the Millennium items have frequently used the Shadow Relm for the Shadow Games, it allowed the Shadow Relm to leak through an invisible hole. Soon, even if the yamis altogether stop using the Shadow Games, the Shadow Relm will still threaten to engulf this world and yours. That is why I had coordinated my dimension portals to your exact places so you would end up here. Erica, you were transported by Kaiba so he basically did my work for me. Anyway, I would've fought the leak alone…if I was younger. Now, I can only help you by information and these cards."

At this, Tien-Xiang opened the shoe box and presented each with duel monsters cards. The difference from the ordinary ones was that each one had a gold backing with the word "Exodia" and Horus's eye on it. With startled gasps, the three had their own shocked comments.

"The Flower Mage!" Jennie whispered.

"The Elemental Dragon!" Erica yelled.

"The Black Wizard…How'd you do all this?" Jackie questioned, practically asking for all of them. These were the cards that they had made up years ago...

The man smiled at their shocked and demanding faces. "Did you seriously think I haven't watched over you three? I have seen you play with imaginary cards that you have made out of scratch and made believe that you were legendary duelists. That had given me an idea. You will be the ones to fight back the Shadow Relm. Now you really can be legendary duelists."

Almost immediately the teens started to object. Well, first they stared. Then they argued.

"WHAT?"

"That was seven years ago!"

"Fight the Shadow Relm? YOU'RE CRAZY!"

Uncle Tien-Xiang smiled and pat each and every one of them with reassurance. "You can do it. I know you can."

Then Erica said shyly, "Uh… I forgot how to duel."

Everyone, including Tien-Xiang, shouted, "WHAT?"

* * *

(A/N: YAY! A long chapter! See, I can make long chapters! Hah! (looks so proud) Anyway, I would like to thank neo, wolffie, and DarkHand27. You people are a big inspiration! Thankee, thankee! (bows) Now please be so kind as to review. Sayonara!) 


	6. Chapter 6 Checkmate

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Prophecy

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh…then chipmunks would rule the world. Yeah. Thought so.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 6 - Checkmate

After knowing that their parents did not even know that they are gone, teaching the three how to duel properly (yes, even Jackie and Jennie), and signing them in as citizens in Domino City, the trio was in the mansion, playing chess after a hectic week. Tomorrow they would go to school even if they hated to go.

"Check," Erica said, moving her castle three spaces. Jackie moved his king away.

"What're we going to do when we meet Kaiba at the high school?" Jennie asked, watching the rain go down outside the window.

Jackie shrugged. "I don't know. What're we going to do about Yugi's gang?"

Erica moved her queen to the king. "We'll just become friends with 'em. Checkmate."

Jackie sighed at his loss in the game. Then he looked outside along with his other friends. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

* * *

The students of Domino High chattered among their peers as they gossiped about the three new students at the high school. Among them was Yugi, Teá , Tristen, Joey, and Bakura.

"Do ya think the new kids will be the ones that we met some days ago?" Joey asked.

Yugi shrugged. "I don't know, Joey. It could be anyone."

"Yeah," Tristen agreed. "They looked too smart for this school."

Then Bakura sat down on his seat and warned his friends, "The teacher's here! We've better sit!"

"Good morning, Mr. Takudou," the class chorused.

The teacher nodded and greeted nicely back, "Alright, you punks. Take out your biology books and your homework. Kaiba, close your laptop please. That's for work. Not class."

A couple of students snickered, but obeyed the teacher's order. Then a polite cough sound outside the class as the principal shooed in 3 students.

Mr. Takudou smiled and announced loudly, the class now chattering nosily, "Quiet now! These kids are transfers from another country so be a good example."

The boy and two girls bowed respectfully to the students, faces nervous, but under control. Kaiba just glared at the taller girl. She was the one from his portal…

At lunch time, after taking a pop quiz (which the trio didn't take since they were new), Erica quickly ate her lunch, while Jennie and Jackie talked quietly.

After finishing her tofu, Erica murmured, "Tri-haired boy and co. at 9 o'clock." The other two looked up and waved at the Yu-Gi-Oh cast.

Joey sat next to Jennie, while Teá sat next to Jackie, and the others just piled into the remaining seats. Erica packed her lunch box away and folded her hands on top of the desk, business-like.

"So, what's up?" Erica said cheerfully.

To make things fast, Bakura introduced himself, talked about Yugi's hair, and back to where we were.

"Hey! Any of ya know how to duel?" Joey asked.

Erica, Jennie. And Jackie nodded.

"Oooooh! Can I verse ya?" the blonde asked Jackie.

The boy shook his head good-naturedly at first, but when a snobby voice spoke out, "Why? You're afraid to lose, chicken?"

It was Kaiba, of course. Jackie stood up, but Jennie held him back. Unfortunately, she couldn't hold back Erica, too.

"At least he's not obsessed with power as you are, Seto," Erica snapped.

The classroom fell silent. No one fought with Kaiba. Joey maybe, but he's just stupid.

"Ah, so my experiment speaks," Seto smirked.

Erica pushed Kaiba and growled, "I am NOT you experiment, tyrant!" Jennie tried to hold her friend back, but Erica just waved her hand away. "I don't know who the hell you are, but I'm amazed that your brother even **admires **you since you're such a pain in the ass!"

Seto's eyes darkened and he hissed back, "Don't include my brother in this."

"Yeah. You're right. You're too obnoxious to even have your brother as an excuse!"

Jennie growled under her breath, "Erica, remember you promised to stay out of trouble…"

Erica snapped, "Oh, damn that promise! He was annoying enough on T.V. and seeing him face to face only disgusts me more!"

Enraged, Seto tried to slap Erica, but she lashed out first and punched him in the middle. He fell down, holding his stomach, shocked as ever. Immediately, Jackie and Jennie pulled the struggling girl out if the classroom for a "small talk." After a few minutes, the classroom became steadily nosier and Kaiba was trying to get up, ignoring the pain.

"We got a new fighter at school, Kaiba!" Joey teased.

Seto snapped back, "Shut up, pathetic dog."

"Why I outta-" Joey started but Tristen held his friend back. They didn't need to another fight.

Outside class, Jennie scolded Erica, ranting, "You're picking a fight with the wrong sort, okay?"

Jackie nodded and added, "Also, he's Seto Kaiba. He can sue Tien-Xiang for who knows how much money."

Erica sulked and avoided her friends' eyes.

"Still," she started, "I just hate him so much that I want to bash him with a mallet!"

Jackie pat his friend on the shoulder and smiled, "Let me fight my own battles and you fight yours. I understand your concern, but just don't go rampaging into someone's argument , okay?"

Erica nodded and Jennie leaned against the wall with Erica. "Cheer up, my friend. You can always blackmail Kaiba!"

Erica smiled and put her arms over her friends' shoulders, happily walking back to class.

* * *

After school, the trio waited for their uncle's car, talking steadily. Then Bakura saw them and ran over.

"Hey, B.K.," Erica greeted.

Bakura laughed at his nickname and waved back. "Are you waiting for your father?"

Jackie shook his head and pointed at the Lexus going down the road. "We're waiting for our uncle. That's all."

The albino thought thoughtfully and saw Jennie and Jackie go inside the car. Only Erica remained. Abruptly, she pulled Bakura's hair slightly and ran inside the Lexus. The boy stared after the bold girl and blushed slightly.

'Those amber eyes…' he though bashfully.

Jennie laughed at Erica and gasped out, "You **had** to pull his hair?"

Erica threw a tissue ball at her and snapped out, "His white hair was tempting, okay!"

Jackie shook his head in amusement and told Tien-Xiang, "Erica got into a fight with Kaiba today."

Erica shot Jackie a death glare, but he just ignored it.

The man replied with a simple, "Oh?"

"Yup. Even if she pulverized him, who knows what Seto will do for revenge," Jennie added.

The uncle nodded and asked, "Did Kaiba tease Erica first?"

"Yeah," all of the teens chorused.

"Ah. He must've been embarrassed that his first being that came out of his portal was just a normal girl…except that she watches Yu-Gi-Oh on T.V. and grows crazy because of caffeine."

Erica kicked Jackie's Uncle's seat. Talk about respect…

Jennie rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, "Embarrassed? Embarrassing is when you so the chicken dance in your chicken suit."

Everyone hooted at this, but Tien-Xiang stopped laughing and said quietly, "Kaiba wants to say hello it seems."

The three turned around in their seats and Erica moaned audibly.

"Not him…" she groaned. Tien-Xiang stopped the car and was about to get out, but Erica stopped him.

"It's my battle," she said, glancing at Jackie. Then she got out of the car and stood face to face with Kaiba.

"Wow. You're actually chasing a girl for once, Seto," Erica smirked.

Seto's eyes narrowed and hissed, "You're coming with me."

Erica continued to smile. "You are angry that I am not an extraterrestrial being, are you not?"

Seto remained quiet, but continued to glare at the girl. Inside the car, though, Tien-Xiang joined the two teens in the back seat and watched Erica face off with Seto.

"I have an idea. If I win at chess, then you will leave us alone. If you win, you can take me and do tests or whatever. Your choice, Mr. Kaiba," Erica said.

Seto put his suit case on to the Lexus car's trunk, opened his suitcase and revealed a virtual chessboard. "Your turn, novice." he said with dangerous quality.

For the next three hours, it was a tie in the game while they threw each other witty remarks.

Erica muttered, "So. You've been playing chess since you were eight?"

Seto replied, "Yes. That's why you won't win this game."

Erica moved the knight a couple of squares away from the king. Kaiba took it and replaced it with a castle.

"Smart in how you tricked your step-father into adopting you," Erica smiled.

Seto snorted and watched Erica replace the castle with her black queen.

In the car, Jennie did a victory pose. Jackie and Tien-Xiang looked a the Jennie for an explanation.

The girl whispered to the men, "Seto will never get out of this one! Erica did her Square Jail thingy and the so-called 'King of Chess' fell right into her trap!"

Jackie narrowed his eyes and gasped, "She's right!"

Seto stood up straight after bending over for three hours. "I've won so forfeit while you can save your dignity."

Erica let out a rich, but semi-evil laugh. Then she pointed at Seto's king. "Look again, Oh Smart One."

Puzzled, Seto looked down and his mouth opened in astonishment. His king was surrounded by a castle, priest, queen and knight. If he tried to move, Erica can choose any of those pieces to take his king. Erica didn't lose…he did.

"Well, that was a good game," Erica smiled, stretching. "Remember to keep your promise, Seto!"

Then the girl went into the Lexus car as it slowly drove away, still leaving Seto shocked. After Erica waved her hand out the window, did Seto move. For the first time in a long while, he grinned. There was something very special about that girl…

* * *

(A/N: AHHHHHHHHH! THE PAIN! I've been typing too long…Well, to everyone who were waiting for the chapter for such a long time, I would like to say this: I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! I'M SO SOOOOOOOOOORY:starts to cry hysterically: My laziness got in the way…Well, I wrote a long chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. If you're not angry at me for not posting up a chapter, PLEASE REVIEW! PLEASE! And oh, if you see any grammar or spelling mistakes, please tell me. I'll be happy to correct them.) 


	7. Chapter 7 Eliminate!

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Prophecy

Disclaimer: Hey…DO I LOOK LIKE I OWN SOMETHIN' YU-GI-OH RELATED?

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 7 - Eliminate!

Jennie yawned slightly as she fixed one of Tien-Xiang's computers with Jackie. 'Technology class did come in handy,' she thought as she placed a chip inside the hard-drive.

"Oy, give me a small screw," Jackie asked.

Jennie rummaged through her pockets and threw the screw at the boy.

Jackie, though, was a natural at computers and technology. He could even hack into the Pentagon's first five firewalls without being detected. Of course the urchin only told this to Erica and Jennie.

Suddenly the two heard stomping on the first floor.

As Jackie's uncle came down to the basement, he replied before the two could ask, "Erica is cleaning the floors."

"Can't the maids do it?" Jennie inquired.

Tien-Xiang and Jackie shook their heads, Jackie answering, "We do stupid things when we're bored."

Jennie smirked in understanding. Then the doorbell rang.

Erica yelled, "I'll get it!"

They all heard rapid stomping. After that, some crashes and something breaking.

Jackie sighed and muttered, "Is her ancestor Godzilla or something?"

Jennie laughed in good humor and jumped a bit when Erica shut the front door close with a loud bang. Then the hyperactive girl ran down the stairs holding up pink envelopes with heart stickers. A love letter. _Two_ love letters!

"Lookit what I found!" Erica mischievously sang. "One's for Jackie and one's for Jennie! What a pleasant surprise!"

Cursing and blushing, the hacker-boy and braided hair girl chased after the tomboy, who ran off trying to read the love letters. Tien-Xiang shook his head. Teens and their love crisis.

* * *

Tired, the trio sat on the roof of the mansion, agreeing to Erica's terms to read the letters out loud or she would blackmail them by taking away their secret supply of candy and eating it for herself so she would get crazy.

Jennie, being the braver one, read hers first:

"Dear Jennie, my love,

(The trio made faces at this point)

"How your hair turns golden in the evening sun,

How soft your skin is, and how full your crimson lips must feel.

Truly this must be love, for I see your eyes grow hazy with dreams.

And my heart beats within seconds each time I see your smile…

How I wish to obtain you in my arms and hold you till the end of time.

Love,

XOXOXO"

Erica and Jackie snorted, then giggled, and finally laughed right out loud.

Jennie whacked her friends, face red with sheer embarrassment. "It's not like yours will be any better, Jackie!"

Jackie coughed a bit too loudly and opened his letter, Erica still shaking with silent laughter.

"Dear Jackie,

("At least this sounds better than yours, Jennie," commented Erica. She got a whack on the arm in return.)

"Whenever I see you, my heart skips a beat and my face turns red.

You rarely turn towards me since I'm so quiet,

But when you do, I melt in your eyes' embrace,

Black eyes like space and sparkles like stars.

I wish you knew how I felt, so I'm here to say this here and now.

I like you…no…

It's love at first sight.

Love forever more,

XOXOXOXOXOXO"

Now it was Jennie's turn to laugh. "And your teasing me that my letter's bad? HAH!"

Jackie took his paper and started to hit Jennie with it. Laughing, the braided hair girl ran inside the house, Jackie chasing after her, throwing pirate curses. Erica was about to follow them, but something made her turn. In the small forest, something dark flickered at the top of the trees. Blinking, the dark image disappeared. Shaking her head, Erica went back inside the mansion.

* * *

The house was quiet. Everyone was asleep and the only person awake was Erica. She was intent on figuring out what that dark thing was. She knew she wasn't hallucinating when she saw it.

The tomboy tip-toed pass her friends' rooms and chuckled as she saw Jackie and Jackie asleep on their desks. Evidently, they tried to figure out who the soon-to-be dead people were in sending those letters. Quickly, Erica slid down the stairs and ran out the kitchen door. She took a flashlight along with her and a canister of pepper spray, just in case. Now she was ready to enter the forest.

The teenage girl warily made her way through the woods and shivered slightly from the sudden cold wind. Frowning, she also realized that the darkness around her seemed to be closing in on her. Then she heard something crack. Erica started to panic and sprinted into a nearby clearing. Turning around, she pointed her flashlight beam at the figure behind her.

It was hooded and levitating. Wearing a black cloak, the wind seemed to go right through the being as if it wasn't there. Something dark swirled around it and when it touched the ground below, it killed the plants. Obviously it didn't look too friendly.

"Who are you? **What **are you?" Erica demanded.

In raspy voice, it replied bluntly, "You are the holder of the Exodia cards. I have been sent by my master to eradicate people who might get in the way."

The tomboy backed away. "Eradicate? What master?"

The blacked cloaked person looked up. Two yellow orbs glowed inside the hood. "Die."

Huge waves of black erupted from the ground and split the ground in two. Erica barely rolled to one side before she could either be hit by the wave or fall into the chasm. This was not good. She didn't have any defenses and all she had was pepper spray and a flashlight, which was fading fast. Again the wave came and the girl tumbled to the other side. She had to think of something before she actually died. With wide-eyes, Erica quickly took out the batteries from her flashlight. Then she set her pepper spray into a ready mode. The thing turned toward her and it's eyes glowed again. That was the signal. Just as the wave came, the tomboy threw the batteries at the being. The attack connected with the batteries. Quickly, Erica dodged into the bushes as the batteries exploded right into the thing's face.

Screaming, the enemy flinched retardedly, clutching at its probably burnt face, and sending the black waves everywhere. When the thing was coming toward the tomboy, she also threw the pepper canister. The monster's face connected with it and the bottle broke, spreading the burning foam all over its body. The cloaked being bellowed from anger and pain. Then it started to glow.

'That…doesn't look too good.' Erica thought nervously. Then she scrambled out of the way as black fire burned the grass on which she was on before.

The figure had turned into a dragon, and even if it was still blind, it didn't have to worry about that; dragons depend more on scent than sight.

"HOW DARE YOU!" it screeched, wings flapping furiously. "HOW DARE YOU BLIND ME WITH YOUR PATHETIC WAYS! I WILL BURN THIS WHOLE FOREST NOW IF IT MEANS TRYING TO FIND YOU!"

The tomboy slapped her forehead. She had just made the situation worse. If Erica only had her card deck then maybe she could be like Yami and summon her duel monsters to life! Even better, if she only had that one card…that one trap card…

There was only on thing to do. Run.

Immediately, Erica took to her feet and ran away toward the mansion. However, she yelled at the dragon, "HEY! I'M OVER HERE! COME AND GET ME! I KNOW YOU WANNA EAT ME!"

The thing swerved its head toward her voice and rampaged after her, stomping on anything that came into contact.

Erica crashed into the garage door of the house and wrenched the door open. She knew that somewhere in the garage was her Exodia cards. Digging around in the junk, she searched on top of boxes and other trash. She barely heard the monster's roaring behind, but she knew it was coming up fast. Scratching her head, the tomboy tried to remember where she had last put her deck. Thinking, she finally realized where she had left it. Turning around and going inside the kitchen, she looked into the refrigerator. There it was, the shimmering golden cards that Erica had invented so many years ago.

Running back outside, the lady gulped as she saw the black dragon right in front of her. It looked bigger then she thought it was.

It shouted, shaking the whole mansion and ground, "WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE ARE YOU, WRETCHED HUMAN?"

'I hope this works.' Erica thought as she took several deep breaths. After that, she took out a card and held it up. "I summon Wind Shikigami!"

To Erica's surprise and luck, a snake that was translucent appeared, floating in front of her. It actually worked! The woman went onto the serpent and flew up high to the same level as the dragon. It was shooting random fireballs all over the place so it was hard to get close to its head.

"Oy!" the girl yelled. "I'll ask again: who sent you?"

The dragon lurched backwards, startled in how close the Exodia wielder was. Regaining back its composure, the monster snapped its jaws at Erica, who swiftly moved away.

"Tell me!" Erica ordered once again.

The creature hissed, "Figure it out yourself!"

Narrowing her eyes, the lass took out her most beloved trap card. The card in which Jennie and Jackie dubbed the "cheating card." Setting the piece of paper on top of the dragon's head, the monster suddenly froze, not able to move and not able to do…well…anything.

"Do you know what card this is?" she questioned. "When I duel, it destroys all your opponent's monsters on or off the field. Even the ones that aren't even summoned yet. It also disables any trap or magic card that is played. In your case, it stops you from transforming, attacking, and moving."

The dragon's eyes widened from fear. Erica smirked.

"ELIMINATE!"

With that, the trap card faded and the black creature leaked with light. It burst, first exploding, then, curiously, **im**ploding. A black card levitated in the air and Erica grabbed it. It was some kind of monster card with a cloaked figure in the picture.

The description read: A minion of the dark who carries out the orders of its superior. Its abilities are to transform and use the shadows for its purposes. The only good qualities it has is its loyalty.

Erica frowned. She turned over the card and saw a pentagram for the symbol. Other than that, nothing. Only black. Suddenly, she felt her Wind Shikigami shudder. Looking down, she saw it disappear.

"Oh…dear." she commented.

With that, Erica fell into the bushes, her Exodia cards flying all over the place. The woman sighed, watching her deck float down like snow. Oh, well. At least she was alive.

* * *

The lesson of the day: Being irresponsible could save your life! (Like putting your dueling cards in the fridge…)

* * *

(A/N: Ano…Well, hi to you all again. This time I have no excuses for being late in my updating. I'll just be blunt: I was lazy. WHAT KIND OF AUTHOR AM I? A demented one probably. I hope you liked this chapter and another one is coming up. And, oh, before I forget, thanks to all the reviewers, old and new. I wouldn't have continued this if it wasn't for you people. Seriously. I would've been too lazy. I mean, who would update a story that no one reviews or likes, right?) 


	8. Chapter 8 Cards of the Shadows

****

Prophecy

Disclaimer: All I own is Slappy the Monkey. He's my conscious. He tells me to attack the cheese.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 8 - Cards of the Shadows

"So you're telling me that some card with a mind of its own attacked you and…went kaboom?" Jackie asked, disbelieving.

Erica nodded vigorously, her salmon flopping up and down, partially in her mouth. Jennie sighed and looked at the tree branches. Apparently, since today was a good day and too stuffy to stay inside, the students in Domino High were granted to eat lunch outside in the field. It was heaven for Erica (and relief for Jennie and Jackie) that she didn't have to face Seto. Who knew what mood he would be in ever since Erica had beat him in chess.

"Yeah! And I got the card from where he came from right here!" the tomboy shouted, holding up the black card that had a black cloaked figure in the picture. A pentagram shone darkly in the back.

Jackie took it and observed it with concentration. As for Jennie, she pat Erica on the shoulder. She didn't notice; Erica was too focused in her food. Rolling her eyes, Jennie took away her bowl of rice and got a slap on the back in return.

"Just look, will ya!" the braided-hair girl snapped. Erica growled, but looked in where Jennie was looking at.

Across from the trio, Yugi's group were chatting happily yet Ryou glanced at Erica from time to time. When he saw the tomboy looking straight at him, he blushed and looked at the sakura tree above him. Then Jennie pointed at Kaiba. He wasn't doing anything strange. Only typing on his laptop. Erica gave a puzzled look at her friend, but Jennie poked the air to stay looking at him.

Seto turned around since a paper ball barely missed his head. On his back was a very obvious sign in Jen's hand writing, "I have chalk on my butt AND I'M PROUD OF IT!" Then Seto got up to sit somewhere else. Indeed, on his behind, was a large blotch of powdery white stuff.

Erica laughed right out and went on her back, choking and gasping. Seto glared at her as he passed by, but his eyes softened as he saw her looking up at him with glittering irises. Then her pupils shifted to his back. Erica snorted and guffawed out loud again. Puzzled, Kaiba pulled the sign off his back. Seeing what was on the paper, Seto's face turned red and everyone around him doubled up laughing.

"Did you do this? I demand to know, Lee!" he shouted.

Erica was too tired to object so Kaiba rolled the paper into a ball, chucked it at the tomboy's face, and stomped off. Jennie laughed her head off and Erica glared at her.

"You should've been the one to be thrown at!" she yelled. Jennie just choked.

Then Joey shouted, "Yo, Seto! Ya still got chalk on your butt!"

* * *

In math class, the trio talked under low voices as Mrs. Nagizawa explained about calculus.

"Did you use this card yet in any battle?" Jackie questioned, scribbling in some notes.

Erica shook her head.

The hacker-boy sighed in relief and explained, "Good, 'cause in small print this card says that whoever uses this will slowly fade into the dark, whatever that means. Either way, it doesn't sound too good."

"You seriously don't believe that, do you?" Jennie frowned with worry.

"Who knows if it's real or a bluff," Jackie sighed, "But I'm not the one to find out!"

* * *

"Hmm…" Tien-Xiang murmured as he read a large, leather bound book.

The three teens waited for Jackie's uncle to make his decision as he held the black card of the pentagram. It was right after school and just sitting in the manor's library was getting boring.

Finally, the man concluded, "I think this is- no, wait, never mind."

Erica moaned and Jennie started to punch the table.

"COULD YOU GO A BIT FASTER, UNCLE DEAR?" Jackie asked politely.

"Fine, fine." Tien said. He turned the book around and the pictures showed the symbol and one of the black cards. "I'm not too sure, but I think this black card belongs to the Shadow Relm. It's rumored to have been used to sabotage battles against it, making humans think they can turn the Relm's own creation against it. Once it is used other than its maker, the monster in the card turns on the false user and devours it."

The four of them contemplated this with fearful silence. Then Jennie got up and swiped the black card into the dim fireplace. However, as soon as the card hit the fire, the fireplace smoked out, all the light bulbs busted, shades fell down, and the doors slammed closed. The temperature dropped suddenly in the room. Immediately sensing danger, Tien-Xiang grabbed Jennie's wrist and pulled her under the table with the rest. A dense white fog swirled around the area.

"Close your eyes!" the uncle bellowed. Everyone obeyed.

For a few minutes that seemed like hours, the cold wind literally screamed in their ears and anguished yells of suffering echoed. Eventually the moans and groans faded and everyone opened their eyes again. Everything was normal again as if nothing had happened. The fire burned merrily in the fireplace. The frightening thing was, was that the black card wasn't there anymore. It had disappeared.

* * *

The next day was Saturday and school was only a half day. So, the Yu-Gi-Oh cast and Jennie and Erica went to get some lunch and spend time in the park. Jackie, though, just got his stuff and went home to help his uncle find the invisible leak of the Shadow Relm.

As Tristen, Bakura, Jennie, and Yugi played catch, Joey was teaching Erica some tips on dueling and Teá was watching the others catch the ball. Frequently, Joey looked at Jennie whenever it was Erica's turn.

Growing annoyed, Erica blurted out, "Why won't you just go down there and kiss her!"

Joey jumped at the girl's sudden temper and said quickly, almost too quickly, "I can't do that!"

The tomboy looked up, cracking her neck. "Ow…Wait a sec…Are you saying that you like Jennie?"

Realizing his mistake instantly, he whispered, face red, "Don't tell her, okay? I don't want her to know!"

Seeing his puppy dog eyes, Erica sighed and kept his secret.

"Then…YOU'RE THE ONE THAT GAVE HER THAT DISGUSTING LOVER LETTER!" the tomboy shrieked. Joey covered her mouth, but nodded. "So then…Jackie's letter came from…TEÁ LIKES JACKIE?"

"Yeah! So shut up about it and don't tell ANYONE!" the puppy hissed.

Erica nodded seriously, but when Joey removed his hand, she rolled over and laughed hysterically.

Meanwhile, as the others played ball, Jennie saw Bakura glance at the choking girl on the hill. Then his eyes became alarmed when he saw Erica roll off the hill, but peaceful again when he saw her appear again unharmed, still smiling. Jennie moved next to Tristen and Yugi who were sitting next to Teá .

"Does Bakura like my insane friend or something?" the braided-hair girl inquired.

Yugi chuckled and Tristen and Teá looked wondrously at the female.

"You mean you don't know?" Teá said.

"Know what?"

Tristen looked at Bakura and whispered, "All of us knows that Ryou, over there, like Erica!"

"Yeah! It's kinda obvious, don't you think?" Yugi grinned.

Then Jennie started to giggle. "Oh maaaaaan! This is just too much! The British albino likes Erica? Of all the people…ERICA?"

The other three nodded with spirit. At that time, they started to laugh when Jennie went on her back, kicking her legs. Finally Bakura came over and saw everyone dying of laughter. Puzzled, he sat down and asked in what was wrong. The four just laughed even harder.

* * *

As the girls had fun, Jackie was biking home until a biker that didn't seem too nice stopped him from his tracks.

"Where're you going, nerd?" the man jeered.

Jackie rode past him, saying a simple word. "Home."

Then the biker put his foot in front of the boy's bike. "If you don't listen to what I say, you'll regret it…big time."

The hacker-boy got off his bike and backed away. The whole place was frozen in time and only the man and him were moving. Even the flying birds were still in mid-air. Jackie saw that the biker dude was clad in black and had glowing, yellow eyes.

"You again. That damn Shadow Relm card." the teen said, voice dripping with hatred.

The man smirked. "No, that one is long gone. I'm the next messenger. Why? You miss him?"

"Hardly."

The biker leaned on his motorcycle and looked around the still scenery. He touched the trashcan and it shattered.

"Isn't it beautiful to see the world in complete mercy of your powers?" the dude smiled dangerously. "Once I touch a object in my territory, it will shatter like glass."

Jackie was confused. The biker had a completely different accent and speech pattern. What changed it?

'No…wait…' the teenager pondered. 'The black clothes…they're moving?"

The man grinned once again at Jackie's shocked face. Introducing himself, he said, "I am Sable Nightmare, a ghost that possesses anything that might become use to me. Since this man is a complete innocent, you can't touch me, nevertheless hurt me."

"What do you want?" the hacker-boy snapped. He was getting really sick of this guy.

"What do I want?" Nightmare said teasingly. "That's a stupid question for such a smart boy like you. I want the pretty golden deck that you have in your pocket, of course."

"No."

"Don't be like that. If you don't cooperate, I'll just tap every single one of these humans. Too bad it'll be too messy to clean up afterwards."

Jackie gritted his teeth. "Sick bastard."

"So. What will it be?"

The boy thought for a few seconds. Slowly, he handed over the Exodia deck. He had no choice. The monster took it and flipped through it, making sure that everything was inside. Then it frowned.

"You forgot one, boy." Nightmare remarked. It looked up.

Jackie held a card with a blank picture for its description. "I know I did. Goes to show that my fast typing fingers are good for something else."

Immediately the being stepped forward and set its hand very close to a small toddler. "You don't want to use that, human. Or maybe you would like to see blood come out like broken glass?"

The teen boy raised the card up and saw the emptiness in the biker's eyes replaced by sheer greed. Yup, he was definitely possessed.

"Sorry, but I don't think you're fast enough. PURIFY!"

The card glowed like the sun, around him an aura like the night sky. The card shot out random gold beams. One of them shot at the monster. Screaming, the biker fell and stared at Jackie with pure hatred. It reached to touch the toddler, but a web of light held it up and away. Then more threads of light tied around the man. However, as the twine raised up, the body of the male fell through it, leaving behind a shadow of yellow eyes. Jackie walked toward the crumpled biker and reached down to take back his Exodia deck.

Calmly, he said as the shadow struggled in its bonds, "The Purify card allows me to delay a dark monster for more than three turns. After that, I can take out any trap card I want. I bet you know what that is."

Sable Nightmare was dropped from his golden ropes. Immediately the thing flew at Jackie, intent on killing him. However, it stopped as the boy took out a customized card that he made.

"Say hi to the graveyard reaper for me." Jackie smiled. A sucking vortex appeared out of the card and sucked in the monster.

Before the apparition completely disappeared and time returned to normal, it screeched out, "You will never leave this world! The way back is the Shadow Relm and you know you cannot beat it! You will DIE trying!"

Then…it was gone.

* * *

(A/N: That's it for today so you can review now. Please. Anyway, thanks to all who've read this far without getting bored and wait for the next chapter of Prophecy to come up. You wouldn't want to miss this episode. It's about Field Day and some more Seto Kaiba bashing. I don't hate him-sometimes-but he's just fun to bother. Mwahahahahahaha…You gotta love him. Also, how do you spell Shadow Relm? Did I spell it right? Or is it Realm? Dur…) 


	9. Chapter 9 Field Day Troubles

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: MURFY DO DA! HA!

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 9 – Field Day Troubles

The next few weeks passed until May arrived and even after that, nothing special happened. The leakage of the Shadow Realm was still not found, though positive it was somewhere in Domino City. For more trivial matters, Jennie and Jackie remained oblivious to Joey's and Teá love and Erica continued to be oblivious of Bakura's shy ways around her. Yup. Normal days.

Today, though, compared to all of the other humdrum days, was an all day Field Day on a hot, but breezy Saturday.

"I can't **wait **until the one-half mile relay!" Erica yelled, some startled students looking at her weird.

Jennie agreed energetically and Jackie squeezed his stress ball. Erica saw this and laughed, patting her male friend on the back. "No pressure, Jacko! We're just here to have fun!"

Jackie suddenly screamed, threw his poor, crushed stress ball into the stands, and ran off to some corner of the track field.

"Uh…that went…well." Jennie said, shocked at Jackie's momentary insanity.

"Come on! Let's figure out in who we're versuing!" Erica smiled. Then she sprinted to the charts that would tell who they were going against. Jennie chased after her friend.

Later, Jackie came back to the two girls. Tired, but blew off his nervousness by running around like an insane monkey (including the part in waving your arms above your head). Then he saw the girls' faces. Jennie was glum and Erica was angry.

"What's wrong?" Jackie asked.

Jennie sighed heavily, but Erica ranted, standing up, "Seto Kaiba and his pathetic team! Why did he have to join the relay? Because he wanted revenge for me beating him in the chess game! THAT BIG MORON! He knows we have no chance against him since he was the one that can beat our ass! And I swear he wants to sabotage us or something! But we'll show him! We'll show that we can beat him and his stupid team! And guess what! He HAD to join the jumping thingy and the balloon fight! Just to beat me! ME! IN MY OWN GAME! Who the hell does he think he is! I'll show him, that gargantuan monster!"

Finally, Erica sat down, huffing and puffing. Jennie said after, "We have to versus against Kaiba, Devlin, and that track runner from gym."

Jackie smiled freakishly. "Yeah, I noticed. Now, wait here while I run around like a total idiot again."

Again the boy ran off screaming his guts out, brushing past a confused Teá. Thinking that she might be some help the students went over to the two sitting girls and asked what was wrong. Before Erica could rant again, Jennie pushed her over, distracting Erica.

"We have to versus against Seto in the relay." Jennie replied. Joey and the others came along, too.

"You're kidding!" Joey said, disbelieving. "Against Kaiba?"

Erica nodded and glared at Jennie for pushing her over.

Then the intercom shouted, "Team A and C, report to the relay track in five minutes. Thank you."

"LET'S BEAT SOME KAIBA ASS!" Erica hollered.

Jennie took a deep breath and smirk evilly. "Yeah, and maybe we can add another sign on his back!"

The male friend of the duo popped out of nowhere, punching the air. He joked, "And we'll put something on him to match!"

The trio laughed and walked off, spirits anew.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Yugi asked.

"Pretty much." Tristan shrugged and responded. "They're pretty hard to beat, you know."

Joey ran and yelled over his shoulder, "Come on, guys! Let's go and cheer for 'em!"

* * *

After warming up for three minutes, Jackie got up and pointed at Devlin. The two other girls looked up and saw that the man with long, black hair was being cheered on by his female fans. He was calmly waving at them with his charming smile. Seto was nearby, rolling his eyes.

"Lech." Jennie muttered and rubbed her legs even harder.

Erica simply chuckled and did some jumping jacks. However, the track runner came over, bothering all of them.

"Can't wait to be versuing ya in this challenge!" the teen boy said, with a tinge of an Irish accent.

Jackie did arm circles and said with good humor, "Glad to hear. And oh, if you're planning to spy on us, there's no need. We have no strategy whatsoever."

The boy looked shocked and stomped off, angry.

"How'd you know he was going to sabotage us?" Erica asked, eyes innocently confused.

"Someday you'll learn, Erica…" Jennie hinted, eyes glittering with mirth.

The girl simply pushed her friend off the bench. The track lady blew her warning whistle, signaling for the runners to take their places. Telling the woman to stop blowing her damn horn, the competitors ran to their spots. Jackie was first with the track runner, Jennie was second with Duke Devlin, and Erica was third with her arch nemesis, Seto Kaiba. The gun boomed, and the race began.

"Come on, Jackie!" Teá yelled.

Joey whooped loudly with Tristan and Yugi anxiously watched Jackie run, unfortunately with the track runner in the lead. Soon, Jackie reached Jennie, completely blown out. Then Jennie ran off, already catching up with Devlin.

"Yo, Dukey-boy!" the girl bark "Have you seen my back?"

"No!" he replied.

"Then watch THIS!" With that, Jennie flew forward with a burst of energy, steadily going past Duke.

Practically flying, Jennie gave the baton to Erica and rolled on the ground. She yelled, "If you don't win this, I SWEAR I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

She crawled onto the stands with Jackie and the others. Bakura suddenly appeared, back from his standing long jump. His face was flushed from running to them. "Erica and Kaiba are neck to neck!"

"Do you really think you can beat me?" Seto panted.

Erica wheezed out, "I don't think I can win. I WILL win!"

The girl shoved forward during the turns and with a final cry from the spectators, the girl beat the man by an inch. Then they both tripped and fell onto the grass in the sidelines, breathing heavily as if there was no tomorrow. Jackie rushed to Erica's side and lifted her up, swinging her around. Jennie jumped on both of them, making the laughing duo fall onto the grass again. Erica, however, caught sight of Kaiba, still lying down on the lawn. She got up, walked toward him, and sat down next to the gasping man.

"I haven't felt that rush ever since…hm…I have no idea." Erica said.

"Which proves that you are simple-minded fool." Kaiba snorted.

The female snapped, "Oh shut it, you stupid oaf."

"Make me." Seto laughed briefly before he sprinted off to the next field.

Smiling, Erica chased after the "Ice Man" leaving a very confused faction behind. Did Seto just…laugh?

* * *

For the next three hours, Erica and Kaiba versed each other competitively, doing what ever to beat the other. In the high jump, Seto won, though that was because his rival ran off to chase ducks. Later, Erica fought to do her high jump and had to be dragged away by Tristan and Joey. Other than having a food fight with the Yu-Gi-Oh gang, the only event in which everyone was allowed to participate in was the water balloon fight. It would last for two hours and everyone could have as much balloons they wanted. Only most of the high school girls stayed out of the fight, but the trio had no problem getting wet. After all, they DID attack each other with Super soakers and garden hoses.

Erica bounced the water balloon into the air and saw Teá hanging onto every word Jackie was saying. He was teaching her how to avoid most of the water balloons.

Chuckling, Erica heard him say, winking, "But don't expect me to protect you. I may be the one to hit you with this balloon first."

Jennie walked over to her female friend and whispered, "Does Teá like Jackie or is it the other way around?"

Erica simply laughed and walked away. Abruptly the starting gun banged and the air was covered with airborne balloons. Jennie and Erica immediately ducked, knowing that boys would try to get them discouraged first. Then Erica threw a balloon at Jackie and Yugi. Surprised, Yugi laughed, but Jackie bombarded Erica with water bombs. Falling to the ground, the balloons whizzed over her head.

"HAH!" she mocked victoriously, when Jackie temporarily ran out of balloons. Suddenly something wet splashed on the back of Erica's head. Spinning around, she spotted Seto sneering.

"You'll pay for that, Kaiba!" she yelled.

Then she spotted Jennie placing several balloons behind Seto. Holding a thumbs-up sign, Jennie ran off so she wouldn't get wet. Instantly she knew what her friend planned. Running at Seto, Erica noticed he didn't move an inch and couldn't just jump at him. There was only one option. Continuing to dash, Erica all of a sudden stopped in front of him, head low. Then Erica raised her head, eyes big and sparkly.

Making herself blush, Erica looked up at Kaiba's eyes directly and said bashfully, "I like you, Seto dear."

Bewildered and face red, the CEO took a step back, slipped on the balloons behind him, and fell backwards into them, water bursting like a tsunami. Shocked, Seto glanced at the girl who was laughing with Jennie, leaning on Erica for support.

"SUCKER!" they chorused.

Angry, Seto fumed off to get dry, but when he turned, Jennie and Erica laughed even harder. Jackie joined in, laughing as hard as the other two girls. Apparently, on Kaiba's back, was a sign saying, "My whole back is wet, my underwear is showing through, and guess what? I'M PROUD OF IT!"

This time the sign was unreachable and no matter how much Seto tried to reach it, he ended up looking like an idiot going around in circles (also showing his underwear through the soaked clothing). This only made it worse because now everyone was laughing. Furious, Seto went back into the school.

"That…was…SWEET!" Erica roared.

Jackie agreed and Jennie collapsed on the ground still laughing. Eventually, the balloon toss continued and finally the balloons ran out. Everyone went to the bonfire at night to dry up after that. Jennie was sleeping, Jackie was talking with Yugi, and the others were chatting about the embarrassments of the century, Kaiba being at the top of the list. Erica, though, was helping Bakura dry his long hair. Pity that he was the target for most water balloon warriors. Draining the water from Bakura's hair, Erica slapped his hand away whenever he tried to do it himself.

"Please, it's all right! I can do it on my own-OW!" Bakura said, massaging his red hand.

In a commanding tone, Erica scolded, "Boys just leave their hair wet and get a cold! I won't let that happen!"

Bakura sighed and blushed when he felt Erica brush her hand across his bare neck. Shuddering, the albino instinctively covered his neck with his hands. Whacking him on the head, Erica snapped again, saying that he got a cold already. After braiding his hair, Erica looked at Bakura's face and started to laugh.

"You look like a girl!" she choked.

Embarrassed, he tried to take the band off his hair that held the braiding, but Erica did something to it and it wouldn't come off. This only made Erica laugh even more. Giving up, Bakura faced the fire hoping that the glow would hide his red face.

"Sorry about that, B.K! It was just so funny!" Erica apologized.

Then she started to fiddle with her ribbon for first place in the relay. After a moment of silence, Bakura glanced at the girl next to him. Her eyes flamed like amber and were distant as if she was in another world. She looked so... Bakura blushed and looked back into the fire.

While the two were having some "quality time," Jennie had jolted awake, feeling something strange overcome her. Silently Jennie got up, walked out of the school's boundaries, and looked around. There was nothing strange at the moment, but why were the streetlights off? It made everything seem so dark. Something clanked heavily at the road corner. Jennie spun around and stared hard into the dim night, she saw nothing. Another noise, this time it was closer.

"Anybody there?" Jennie called.

A swaying figure appeared out of the darkness and it was humming a strange tune. It started to spin, arms out, giving the person the appearance of a top. Lifting an eyebrow, Jennie watched the person come closer until he was right there, dancing around her.

"Round and round we spin and flow. Spin and spin and down we go!" the person giggled.

Jennie observed the happy human. He was wearing a tuxedo (who in the right mind would wear a tuxedo in the summer?) that was in a rainbow with a bow that could match a clown's. His top hat was also in a multitude of colors and a great amount of bushy hair surrounded the person's face. He had the biggest, probably the craziest smile Jennie had ever seen. His pupils were behind swirly-eyed glasses and he swung around a candy cane cane. The only thing that seemed right was his white gloves.

"Uh…you need to go to an asylum, buddy?" Jennie asked, eyes following the dancing man. Something was wrong about this...

"No, no, no!" he laughed freakishly, taking Jennie's hand into his own. "We shall dance!"

"Get away from me, ya weirdo!" the girl hissed, snatching her hand away. To add to her remark, she kicked the person in the shins and backed away.

The man twirled and swayed his cane back and forth as if she was a small child about to be scolded. "You should know better than to kick random people, little girl!"

Jennie twitched. "WHO YOU CALLIN' LITTLE, YOU FREAK OF NATURE?"

The swaying cane stopped moving and the man pointed the cane's end at Jennie's face. She noticed that it was hollow and made of metal. It smelled like it was burning.

In a sudden deep voice, almost like the Terminator, he shouted gleefully, "BURN, BABY, BURN!"

Fire burst out of the cane and nearly burned off Jennie's head if she hadn't turned and scrambled away. While Jennie ran from the scene, she saw the person happily swinging the flaming flame torch of doom around, causing havoc to various things. Wondering what to do, she caught sight of a garbage can lid.

"Okay. Step one to defeating a maniac holding a candy cane that can shoot fire…" Jennie stopped, making a weird face. What kind of scenario was that?

Shaking her head, Jennie held the lid in front of her and ran forward. Wincing at the heat from the fire, she quickly blew the incoming flames out of her way and slashed the garbage can cover at the man's arm that held the staff. Luckily the stick flew out of the person's grasp and skittered into a corner. Unfortunately, however, the man grasped the can lid and bashed it against Jennie's head.

Seeing stars, the girl staggered away and barely heard the mad man say, "You made me lose my stick! I like my stick! Ooo! I have another idea! MAGIC SHOW!"

Jennie blinked and saw the man take off his top hat. He tapped it once with his fingers and looked inside it. Smiling happily, he took out a white, large bunny that was the size of a garbage truck.

"Go my, Mr. Snuffy-Kins! Feel the air through your all mighty teeth!" the man shrieked.

The rabbit sniffed the air innocently and caught sight of a very confused Jennie. Suddenly it roared, showing fangs that was as big as herself. Screaming, the girl ran away as it tried to chomp at her head. Tripping over the same garbage can that had given its lid, she saw rotten carrots on the top. Holding her nose, she held the carrots up high. The rabbit stopped, looking curiously at the treat.

"You want carrot?" Jennie wheezed out.

The bunny nodded.

"Then get the carrot!"

The teenager threw the vegetable at the dancing man. Almost immediately the rabbit ran the other way, stampeding toward its creator. Giving out a squeak, the man held the hat's opening at the rabbit. A huge vacuum appeared, sucking in the bunny and everything else inside. Jennie desperately clung onto a pole and waited until the person set his hat onto his head.

"Hm…You're lotsa fun! Maybe tricks are too much." he wondered to himself.

Jennie glared at the man. "Stop playing around! What the hell do you want from me?"

The ballet male jumped around and said bluntly, "What else? Exodia cards."

'Of course,' Jennie thought, rolling her eyes.

"NOW TIME FOR MY LASER VISION!"

"WHAT!"

The man took off his swirly-eyed glasses and red beams came out of his eyes, causing more disaster than the flamethrower.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHA! FEEL MY MIGHT OF DOOOOOM!" he bellowed insanely.

Jennie ran out of the way as the laser beams followed after her foot falls. Rolling behind the school wall, she desperately looked inside her pockets if she had her deck. With a yell of victory, the girl jumped out of her hiding spot, and brandished her cards like a shield as it strangely deflected the laser beams. Noticing that his attacks were having no effect, the crazy person put his glasses back on and squinted at the golden cards in Jennie's deck.

"MINE!" he screeched suddenly.

Zooming forward with incredible speed, the monster of the Shadow Realm took off his white gloves, revealing dead looking claws. Too fast for the human eye, the zombie hands went through Jennie's own, grabbed the deck, and pulled it away easily. Then he took his other hand and placed it on Jennie's throat, squeezing tightly.

Grinning like a boy with his new toy, he commented, "You know, I normally I wouldn't have been able to touch this, but with my hands, it's easy peesy! Daddy will be so happy!"

Jennie couldn't believe how cold the man's hand was. It was making her whole body feel cold. Other than that, there was no oxygen coming into her lungs. Franticly looking all over the place for a weapon that she could reach, she saw the discarded candy cane cane that the man had dropped before. Glaring at her opponent, she quickly kicked the person in the shins and pulled away, reaching for staff. As the man hopped up and down from pain, Jennie took the cane and looked for a button. There was nothing to activate the flamethrower.

"There's nothing you can do now, my pretty." the man snickered happily. "That toy only works if it's in my hands!"

Jennie cursed under her breath, but held the weapon steady like a bat. "Well, mugging the physical way always works. HIYAH!"

With quick crash, the end of the candycane stick and the man's head connected, and Jennie continued to bash the staff against the man. As the monster crumpled to the ground, the girl was relieved to know that there wasn't any blood or wounds. He was just unconscious. Taking her deck away from the man's frosty hands, she flipped through it, wondering if she had a specific card for the job.

"Jesus, if I wanted the job done, why didn't I just take a pipe and be done with it?" she mumbled.

With a look of satisfaction, she took out a trap card and set it on the man's head. "Well…what should I say right now? Oh, yeah. DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK OR I'LL POKE THIS NICE STICK INTO YOUR RAINBOW HAT, TOO!"

After that, the man with the swirly-eyed glasses vaporized. A solitary card spun on the ground. Picking it up, she saw the exact image of the man with his description:

Considered the most insane monster in the shadow games, it carries numerous weaponry under its tuxedo and its smile. However its most dangerous weapon is its hands. If touched against human flesh, in a matter of minutes they not only die of suffocation, but hypothermia. Having no care for humans or its own kind, it will do whatever illusion or trickery to get to its goal.

The card quickly vanished into dust from Jennie's hands after she had read the description. Shivering from the sudden cold throughout her body, she threw the candycane cane into the garbage can and walked back into the school. There were her friends and the bonfire to warm her up.

But there was one question in her mind as she smiled at her companions' concerned remarks about her haggard look...

'If we have trouble with the minions, then what'll we do when the real deal comes?'

* * *

(A/N: Whoa. Little serious moment there. Anyway, I never really expected for the chapter to end that way. It was going to be much longer with the crazy man manipulating Jennie's mind that she had no friends and all that load of crap. I thought it was going to bore you readers to death and Jennie wouldn't really succumb to that bull so…yeah.

Um…also, don't mind the randomness that I had in this lame-o fight. I was high on sugar at the time and also had an author's block. So what do you do when you have an author's block? RANDOM PLOT! YEAH!

Gah, excuse my endless babbling and I like to thank all the wonderful reviewers who are **DarkHand27** who's been with me from chapter 1 , **Jennie** yes, she's the person I modeled the Jennie in the story after. BE PROUD, **Atem's Queen of the Nile** love your stories , and **carolsi13** W00T! A NEW REVIEWER! CELEBRATE! . Thank you all and I may be able to update again soon if you review right away. Thanks to you all.

Oh, another thing. The candycane flamethrower idea was from the little kid down the street pretending that he was a power ranger. Personally, I think it's the smartest weapon ever known to mankind. laughs Nevermind, nevermind. Just press that nice purple button at the bottom.


	10. Chapter 10 Blackmail

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: Yes, I know I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh and I know I don't own the characters. BUT I WILL SOMEDAY! I SWEAR I WILL! AND THEN I DON'T HAVE TO PUT UP THIS DAMN DISCLAIMER ANYMORE! MWAHAHAHAHA- (my muse smacks me upside my head) Ah…Hi.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 10 – Blackmail

Erica biked to the instrument academy on Jennie's bike and saw her two friends get out of the building, both holding the violin cases.

"So, did you guys get in?" Erica asked, watching Jackie stack the cases behind her, tying them securely.

Jennie snorted and grumbled, "No! The stupid instructors kicked us out for being better than them!"

Erica grinned and Jackie muttered in disappointment, "And we thought that the Domino City band would be better than the regional bands back at home."

Erica laughed and said in a know-it-all-voice, "That's why I came! I just saw, or rather, heard the Domino City band play."

Jennie and Jackie perked up.

"And do the people in the audience seriously consider that as music? God, it sounded like ducks quacking while they were being killed by passing trucks."

Jennie and Jackie immediately brightened up and laughed.

"Come on! Let's go to Kaiba Land!" Erica hooted.

Jackie lifted his eyebrow. "I thought you hated that place 'cause it was made by Kaiba."

Erica waved this away and argued, "Yeah, but that was then. Kaiba Land is like Six Flags!"

Jennie then threw a fist into the air and shouted, "Then I'm in!"

* * *

"Okay, we're officially and definitely lost." Jackie commented as the three wandered through Kaiba Land.

Erica snapped, "I told you you should've asked for directions!"

"Well, it's not my fault you got the map upside down!"

"Shut up!"

Jennie rolled her eyes and grabbed a random person out from the crowd. "Do you know the way to the roller coasters?"

The person pointed ahead and then backed away when he saw Jackie and Erica start to choke each other. It wasn't pretty. Jennie groaned and dragged the two to the coasters. They would forget their argument there.

Jennie was right. As the coaster tossed and turned, going extremely fast, it suddenly slowed and went to a stop…when it was just about to come down from the upside down spin.

"Oh crap. Is it just me or is this stuck?" Erica asked.

"It's stuck." Jennie and Jackie glumly said. Behind someone said that the blood was going to her head. Soon enough, people were beginning to panic.

"Oh, look. There's Kaiba." Erica pointed out. "HI, KAIBA!"

Instantly people started to scream and beg to be let down.

Aggravated, Jennie bellowed, "SHUT UP!"

Everyone grew silent.

Erica poked Jackie, who was next to her. "Can you hack into the system to make us go down?"

Jackie nodded and took out a small keyboard from his jacket. Tapping his glasses, a mini computer clicked on in his lenses. Gradually, Jackie began to work. As for Jennie, she was looking at the crowd on the ground floor, watching with amusement at the screaming and pointing people. Erica was staring at Kaiba argue heatedly about what was wrong with the roller coaster.

In a few minutes of waiting and some people crying, Jackie whispered, "I'm in."

Jennie and Erica got ready for a bumpy ride. Within seconds, the coaster moved in its regular speed. People cheered with relief and happiness. Eventually the passengers got down and eagerly got off the cursed car. When Erica got off, happy as usual, she saw Seto run toward them, or rather, her.

"The coaster had a small glitch, but it's dealt with now. I suppose the ride wasn't a problem?" Seto said.

Jackie snorted and Jennie rolled her eyes. Sarcastically, Erica answered, "Hmm, oh I don't know. Having people scream behind you, suspended upside down in the air, and waiting for Jackie to hack into your system…yeah! That's pretty much it."

Kaiba glanced at Jackie, who waved. "**He** hacked into **my** system?"

Erica laughed and winked, "don't worry. He's one in a million people who can hack into any computer and trust me; I should know."

After waving and running back to her friends, Jennie said suspiciously, "You flirted with him, didn't you?"

Erica had her usual innocent look and asked, "I was?"

Jackie shook his head and sipped his smoothie, watching Jennie and Erica bicker. It was amusing, really.

Later, Jennie decided to watch people duel on T.V. while Jackie and Erica set off secretly to buy Jennie's birthday present. Going into a nearby shop, the two teens fooled around with Yugi Moto and Kaiba puppets, making them kiss or try to kill each other with plastic duel discs. Soon enough, they made each other shriek with laughter until the store keeper kicked them out. Going onto the next store, they found an Egyptian necklace with Jennie name inscribed onto it. Carefully hiding it into the depths of Jackie's pocket, they set out to find Jennie.

They found her in the same place, only that she was punching some guy in shady glasses while there were other men unconscious around her. In the corner was a small boy with black, long hair and eyes the same as Seto's. Obviously, this was Mokuba.

Jennie got up and lectured, "Now that's for taking a CEO's brother for hostage!"

Erica shook her head and Jackie went over to the kid.

"Eh…want to come home with us so you won't get attacked by those thugs again?" he asked.

Mokuba nodded eagerly and held Jackie's hand as he handed him over to Erica. She had better maternal skills than either him or Jennie.

Erica sighed and whispered, "Jeez…we attract so much trouble."

* * *

At Tien-Xiang's mansion (who was still at work, whatever it was), Erica occupied Mokuba with chess and stories while Jackie watched Jennie argue heatedly with Seto's secretary to talk with him.

"Put that damn man on the line already!" Jennie yelled.

The woman on the phone seemed to have objected since Jennie screamed again, "Fine! I guess you don't want to inform Kaiba that we-"

She glanced at Jackie. He mouthed out, 'kidnapped.'

"…That you don't want to inform Kaiba that we kidnapped his little brother!"

With a loud click and some shouts, Seto took the phone, who seemed to have grabbed the phone out of the secretary's hands. Jackie put the conversation on speakerphone and Erica turned the volume up on the stereos (Jackie connected the stereo to the phone) so they could listen to the conversation.

"WHERE IS MY BROTHER?" Kaiba yelled.

Mokuba smiled at Erica (who, of course, smirked back).

Jennie replied with easiness, "Oh? You mean Mokuba? Don't worry. We got him all tied up and blindfolded."

Everyone stifled their laughter as Kaiba snapped, "Give me my brother back. NOW!"

"I can't simply hand him over the phone, can I?"

"Alright. What do you want and who are you?"

"Nothing, and no one. Just come and pick your brother up."

"You really think I'll fall for that pathetic trick?"

"No catches, Kaiba-boy! Just come over and simply get Mokuba!"

"You must have a reason to have my brother!"

The trio rolled their eyes and Jennie said smugly, "You're just making it harder for yourself. Just come. Alone, of course. AND NO TRICKS!"

"Fine. I will be there in five minutes. Besides, I can deal with you alone."

"Oh really?" Jennie took a glance at Erica. "I wouldn't be so sure of that…"

Erica lifted an eyebrow and looked at Jackie. He just shrugged.

"Just give me the damn address." Kaiba growled.

* * *

In exactly five minutes, the four heard a car wheel in front of the house. Jennie quickly gave the signal and everyone went to their places. Erica was at the front door and wondered how they got into this mess. When the doorbell rang, Mokuba yelled out "Big brother!" with perfection. The knock on the door grew more urgent. Just thinking in what Kaiba's expression would be, made the girl laugh.

Quickly, Erica opened the door and smiled. "Hey, Seto! We're expecting you!"

Indeed Seto grew shocked, confused, then angry, which was what everyone had suspected. But Seto was blushing as well. That was different.

"Uh…Hello, Erica. Is my brother her or am I in the wrong house?" Kaiba asked, taking a look at a piece of paper. Erica pushed Kaiba into the house and into the kitchen.

"He's in there, Seto." Erica assured.

With an even greater shock, Seto saw Mokuba eating cookies with Jennie (who was snickering) and Jackie, who was typing on his laptop. Soon Erica joined in with Jennie and talked with Mokuba.

"What! I heard a scream and the phone call and…Jennie! YOU PLANNED THIS!" Seto shouted.

Jennie shrugged and observed her cookie. There was deadly silence after that. Jackie sensed the tension while Erica and Mokuba remained oblivious.

"Er…maybe you should go home now, Mokuba." Jackie commented.

Erica nodded at Jackie's glance (which shouted, "Rabid Seto.") and kindly called to Mokuba, "Come on, Moki! Your brother is very busy. You can come another time if you like."

Mokuba smiled at his nickname and held Erica's hand while she pushed Kaiba out of the room. Instantly the tension faded and everything was fine again.

As the three left the room, Jennie whispered to Jackie, "Don't ya think Kaiba likes Erica?"

Jackie snorted and replied, "Of course! Why didn't he attack you then when Erica was present?"

* * *

"Thank you for saving my brother…at the amusement park." Kaiba said, watching Mokuba climb into the car.

Erica waved this away and said modestly, "It was Jennie who did the work. Jackie and I were only the bystanders."

"Oh."

There was awkward silence.

"Is Jackie and you…in…in a relationship?" Kaiba asked quietly.

Erica laughed and shook her head. "A lot of people think that, but Jackie and I are very good friends. That's all."

Seto blew out air and Erica looked at Kaiba strangely.

"Why are you asking, though? The Seto I know wouldn't ask that question."

Seto turned away, but his ears burned red. Before Erica could ask if he was blushing, Mokuba sort of saved Seto by yelling out, "Why don't you just kiss her if it takes you so long to get into the car!"

"Mokuba!" Seto hissed with embarrassment, but Erica laughed and went back into the mansion.

"Goodnight, Seto." the girl whispered. Then she closed the door.

"Goodnight to you, too." Kaiba replied in a soft voice. He sighed contently.

Suddenly Jennie and Jackie chorused, heads out the second floor window, "How come you didn't kiss her, Kaiba!"

"SHUT UP!" Seto yelled, chucking rocks from the driveway.

The teens went back inside the house, shrieking with laughter. It wasn't over yet, unfortunately.

When Seto got into the car, Mokuba pouted, "Yeah! Why didn't you kiss her? Then later you guys could've been married and Erica would be with us all the time!"

"MOKUBA!"

* * *

(A/N: Ah…Mokuba was really immature for his age, wasn't he? Sorry. I should've portrayed him as an older kid, but now that I think about it…that'd be no fun, wouldn't it? Also for Seto. He should be colder, meaner, more arrogant, rude :continues to babble bad things about Seto: Ah…ahem.

Let me clear something up before I say thanks to all you wonderful reviewers. I don't hate Kaiba. He's just fun to mess with and poke fun at. If you figured out by now, the reason why this fanfic is so funny is because of the positions I put poor Seto under. And Bakura. And Erica. And Jennie. And Jackie. Er…basically everyone.Anyway, thanks again to my beautiful reviewers **carolsi13** love your favorites list. You have good taste, **Atem's Queen of The Nile** flamethrowers rock my socks, **DarkHand27** it's not that different from the original story to answer your question, and **Hi** …yeah. Hi to you, too.

Well, I actually updated quickly since it was such a short chapter compared to the others. Please review and tell your friends about this story. Hope they like it, too. For now, later days!)


	11. Chapter 11 EVIL BAKUUUUURA!

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own anything anime related. I only own my squishy pillow, which I stole from Jennie.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 11 – EVIL BAKUUUUURA!

Jackie yawned and stretched, watching his uncle nod to sleep. Finally, Tien-Xiang blacked out, snoring slightly. Jackie got up from his chair, got a blanket, and set it on Tien. Going back to his seat, the boy wished he could get some coffee, but he was so close to finding the "Leak," he didn't dare leave the room. Besides, his uncle would scold him for not being alert at watching the computer screen.

A quiet click sound on top of the basement stairs. Turning around in his seat, Jackie saw that it was Erica, who was balancing three cups of cappuccinos on a tray.

Glancing at Tien-Xiang, Erica whispered, "Poor guy…he's been working 24/7. He came back from work and now this?"

Jackie shrugged and got a cup of coffee from Erica's hands. "Why are you outta bed?"

"Couldn't sleep." she simply replied.

"What about Jennie?"

"Snoring."

"Ah."

Jackie faced the computer again, numbers going on and off. Erica looked at the computer, too, and said, ""Almost finished?"

"Yeah. I think by next week, we'll be able to get the approximate place in where the leak is coming off from."

Erica nodded and drained her cup. "Mind if I try something?"

Jackie moved off his chair to make room for Erica as an answer.

"You know how the yamis are able to summon the Shadow Realm, right?" Erica inquired, typing rapidly.

"Yeah." Jackie responded. "What about 'em?"

"What if we are able to detect every single yami in Domino City and keep a close check on them to see if they use the Shadow Realm?"

"What good will that do?"

"Don't you get it? We can ask the yamis to stop doing the soul sucking thing which may stall the Realm from leaking any further."

"What if they don't want to cooperate?"

"Fight 'em."

"WHAT! Look, you may be a very lucky person during fights, but Jennie and I nearly lost everything! I'm not risking a loss as big as that."

"I know, but we might even be able to detect the leak even faster since I think the yamis' powers are similar to the Shadow Realm. Detect one point in which doesn't stop using the Realm, then hey! We find our winner!"

As Jackie thought about this, Erica pressed one final button and commented, "I set the comp up to scrounge for any ancient Egyptian power, so go to sleep and let it finish loading. You're making the computer sweat from pressure."

"Fiiiiine!" Jackie whined.

Then the two set Tien-Xiang on the couch and went up to go to bed.

Only that Erica couldn't go to sleep. One was because she couldn't shake off the shivery feeling in her skin and two was because she drank hers and Tien's cup of coffee. Getting up from bed and putting on some ordinary clothes, Erica stuffed her Exodia cards into her pocket, snuck out through the balcony, and down the vine rope next to it. Then she took Jennie's bike out of the garage. Hesitating, she also got a metal bat, just in case if anyone did anything strange at night.

* * *

Erica didn't know why she went to Domino Central Park. She just felt like going. Riding the bike around the place, she saw a familiar albino sitting on a park bench. Before she could call out, she noticed something strange about him. For some reason, she saw a dark aura around him that was pulsing like a beating heart. It didn't look friendly. Touching her Exodia deck for comfort, a gruesome sight of translucent bodies lying around the man met her eyes. 

It seemed like Yami Bakura was on a hunting spree that night.

Remembering that one gets stronger the more one sends people to the Shadow Realm, Erica started to back away.

However, Bakura voice sneered, "What's wrong? Think I'm a murderer?"

Erica froze. Literally. Cursing the magic of the yami, Erica watched Bakura walk toward her until he was right in front of her. He lifted her face and turned it sideways as if inspecting it.

"Not bad. My hikari doesn't seem to have a bad taste." he smirked.

By accident, Erica's limp hand brushed against the Exodia cards in her pocket and immediately freed her from the evil magic that held her in place.

Slapping Bakura, Erica yelled, "Don't you ever touch me, you sick pervert!"

"Why?" the man jeered, not affected by the slap. "You wouldn't mind if my hikari touches you."

Furious, Erica grabbed the metal bat and swung it at Bakura's ribs. Instead, the yami held it with one hand, crushed it, and threw it away, leaving the bat clanking down the cement. Then he held Erica's wrist so she wouldn't be able to run away.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" the girl screamed.

She stomped on the albino's foot, making him release one of her hands from surprise. Erica grabbed Bakura's Millennium Ring and tried to rip it off. Black electric bolts shot out making a circle of light around the two. Frantically, Bakura tried to wrench Erica's grip off his necklace, but she wouldn't give it up. With strains and some struggling, the rope that held the millennium item snapped. Instantly, Yami Bakura disappeared into the real Bakura and fainted, collapsing onto Erica's shoulder. Making a face and stumbling because of his weight, Erica fell.

* * *

Jennie woke up suddenly, yelling out, "ERICA!" 

Looking around, she figured that her sight was just a nightmare…or was it? Shuddering, Jennie looked outside the window and spotted Erica throwing pebbles at her window. So **that** was the annoying sound that woke her up.

Opening the window, Jennie hissed, "What the hell are you doing outside…with my bike…and Bakura?"

Erica snapped, "Just get down and open the damn door!"

When the two finally set Bakura onto Erica's bed, Jennie slumped into a chair and said breathlessly, "What did you do!"

In a few minutes, Erica told her tale. Her friend sighed and took the Millennium Ring.

"I had a dream," Jennie started, "That you were in trouble at a park when this guy attacked you. Now I see that it wasn't just any dream."

Erica said nothing as she took the Ring back and walked over to the wall. Tapping it once, it opened, revealing a safe. Gently, Erica set the Ring inside it.

Then Jennie pointed out, "You do know that you'll only stall B.K. from getting that back."

The other girl smiled and winked, "When he does, I'm pretty sure all of us can hear it!"

Jennie shook her head and left the room, whispering, "Sleep in the guest room tonight…unless you want to sleep next to the cute albino boy here."

Erica chased the evil friend out of the room, slapping her hard on the back of her hand. Yup. They're good friends.

* * *

Summer vacation was about to arrive and the trio never figured out what to tell Bakura in how he ended up at their house. Jackie and Jennie just settled to tell him that he sleep walked all the way to their mansion. Strangely, Bakura accepted this stupid and obvious lie. Also, the Millennium Ring remained in Erica's safe, quiet and normal. Still, Erica and the others didn't take any chances, sealing the artifact with many locks, both physically and electronically. 

Unfortunately, Jennie's birthday was getting closer and everyone knew what that meant: pure chaos and World War III

* * *

Finally, Dooms Day arrived and Jackie and Jennie already knew this day was going to be a handful since Jennie started the day off by eating a huge chocolate bar. Already Jennie was zipping around, yelling in everyone's ears. 

"Mornin' everyone!" Jennie screamed, shaking the windows. "Today is my birthday!"

Everyone chorused (even Tien-Xiang who woke up groggy) in monotone, "We know."

"It's a fine day! The day is sunny, everyone is happy and- WHOA! Look at the size of this bar, man!"

"We know."

"REALLY? Ohmigod! Look at the time! Time for good, ole school! Cheers, Tien!"

Suddenly Jennie dragged Erica and Jackie out of their seats and propelled them to school. Erica and Jackie were half conscious while Jennie was yelling and shouting. Soon they arrived at school, Jennie marching forward and the other two practically sleep walking. Yugi saw the three and raced to them.

"Happy birthday, Jennie!" he cheerfully said.

Jennie energetically greeted back and ran off to somewhere. Erica sat on a bench, yawning, and Jackie rubbed his eyes.

"Didn't have a good sleep?" Yugi asked sympathetically.

They both nodded and suddenly shouted in panic when Jennie popped out of nowhere.

"IT'S MY B-DAY!" she screamed.

With annoyment, Jackie and Erica snapped, "WE KNOW!"

Jennie simply cackled madly and stalked off to bother a crow.

"What did she eat?" Teá said, sitting next to Erica.

"Chocolate." Jackie and the girl said.

"Oh."

"Does she ever…ever get this insane, except for her birthday?" Yugi inquired.

"At our birthdays and at Christmas. Also at Valentine's Day so the boys could get scared at her insanity and give her candy to stop bullying them." Erica answered.

Everyone stared at Jennie who caught the crow and was tearing at its feathers. Suddenly, a group of crows attacked Jennie while she threw curses at them. Taking refuge in the school building, the birthday girl remained there.

Erica shook her head and sighed, "Today is going to be a loooong day…"

During art class, which was taken outside, Jennie had finally blown off her hyper-ness and was her half-insane self again…though some parts of crazyness still remained in her. For example: when a cute boy sat next to Jennie, she glared at him and when her was about to say hi, Jennie started to chuck colored pencils at him. Running away, he stayed away from her for the rest of his life.

"You know you could've been nicer." Erica snapped, picking up Jennie's pencils.

Jennie stuck her tongue out and went back to work. Erica rolled her eyes and jumped slightly when Bakura tapped her shoulder.

"Oh, hi, B.K." she said without any emotion whatsoever.

Bakura helped pick up the rest of the drawing utensils and set it in Jennie's art box. "Will she be alright like that?"

Before she could even respond, Jennie shoved a very primitive picture of Seto, Erica, and Bakura, or at least that was what Bakura thought it was, into Erica's face. Bakura looked over Erica's shoulder to see Jennie's "masterpiece." Erica was crushing Seto with a mallet, though there was a heart above his head. In the background was Bakura holding pom-poms, yelling and basically looking like a cheerleader.

Immediately, Erica glared at the bored-out-of-her-mind girl and Bakura hid his face in embarrassment.

"What the crap!" Erica yelled. "What's with the cross-dressing albino girl, bleeding brown guy, and the messy, black-haired yak!"

Jennie tilted her head and pointed out, "The bleeding brown guy is Seto and the black-haired yak is you-"

"WHAT!"

"And the person that you called a cross-dressing albino is…well…Bakura."

"Oh $#&!"

Everyone in the class looked at Erica and started to whisper among themselves. Erica turned toward Bakura and apologized, "Oh, B.K.! Please don't take me too personally! I didn't…"

Bakura blushed even more and walked away. Then Erica threw Jennie a dirty glance in which Jennie responded innocently by shrugging.

"I'm sooooo gonna kill you after school!" Erica mouthed out.

Jennie simply sniggered.

For the rest of the day, Bakura hardly glanced at Erica and she herself was too embarrassed to apologize properly. She just blamed Jennie. Jackie, however, had an uncomfortable day at the same time as when Erica commented about the bisexual albino picture. As the hacker casually walked past some people and was looking around for a good place to sit and an easy thing to sketch, he spotted Seto Kaiba poking at his sketch book quite viciously.

Creeping up on him, Jackie commented, "Why don't you draw a rock, since you already have the dots for it?"

Seto flinched and snapped, "Why should I care! I have a company to run and I'm here drawing idiotic objects that aren't even alive!"

Jackie sat next to Kaiba and pointed at the fuming Erica, "Then sketch her. She's breathing and animate."

Seto gave the boy an even look and went back to killing his paper. Jackie sighed and decided to draw a bench under a huge oak tree. After focusing on his picture, Jackie decided to take a break since his hand was cramping. Blowing the eraser dust off the paper, he noticed that Seto was actually drawing and not murdering his pencil point. Taking a peek at the boy's work, he smiled slightly. Kaiba actually took his advice; drawing Erica and it wasn't bad.

"Oh that's sweet." Jackie whispered

Protectively, Seto covered his paper and gave Jackie a death glare. The male answered by focusing on his art work again. Before Jackie could start on the shading, Teá plopped down next to the hacker-boy and smiled sweetly at him. Jackie almost threw up.

"Um…hi, Teá…what brings you here?" Jackie asked weakly.

Teá said, completely oblivious to Jackie uneasy state, "Well, you know, I thought you needed some help so, um…yeah."

Seto snickered and whispered to Jackie, "Good luck with your girlfriend."

Jackie hissed, "At least I have a girl chasing me, while your center of attention hardly knows that you exist!"

Kaiba scowled and looked at his drawing.

Jackie too frowned. He didn't mean to say that, but eh, he deserved it.

* * *

After school finally came and, yes, Erica did try to kill Jennie. She kept poking Jennie with a plastic knife, pointy side. 

"Hey, HEY! Stop that!" Jennie snapped, pulling the knife out of Erica's hands. She just stuck her tongue out.

Jackie rolled his eyes and muttered, "The YuGiOh cast is coming up."

Erica and Jennie waved at the group. Soon, they all set off to the trio's mansion, already planning some party ideas.

"We'll play Hide and Seek in the Dark-" Erica smiled.

Jennie continued, "We'll play Pin the Donkey, Extreme Style…"

"Play Hot and Cold!" Jackie yelled.

Then Jennie smirked evilly. "And play Seven Minutes in Heaven."

Jackie and Erica shook their heads desperately, but Joey asked, "What the heck is that game?"

"Well!" Jennie started (Erica slapped her forehead). "Seven Minutes in Heaven is when you have a bottle, spin it, make the pair go into a closet for seven minutes and who knows! Something special may happen!"

Jennie nudged Bakura and he blushed a deep red. Erica just blinked while everyone laughed. Why did everything have to be so confusing?

* * *

"Okay, so…um…" Jennie pondered and her friends waited patiently for her plans. "Well, we can't play Seven Minutes in Heaven and Hide and Seek in the Dark since it's still sunny outside…but we can play Hot and Cold and Pin the Donkey, Extreme Style." 

"What's that? I mean the Pin the Donkey thing." Tristan questioned.

Jackie explained, "You guys already know what Pin the Donkey is, right?"

The YuGiOh cast nodded their heads.

"Well, this time the donkey picture is in a high place or a place impossible to reach. You're blindfolded, of course."

"That seems fun." Yugi said, cheerful as usual.

Jennie jumped up and ran off to somewhere and came back with donkey picture, a piece of cloth, and a donkey's tail. Then she climbed on top of the couch, and taped the picture on the sloping ceiling.

"Er…how are we supposed to get that?" Joey said, looking at Jennie climb down.

Erica bounced on the couch and smiled, "That's the point!"

Jackie laughed as everyone groaned.

For three hours, all of them tried to reach the picture blindfolded and it was hilarious in how everyone jumped and fell, tripping on something. They only stopped when Joey fell, tripped over a chair, toppling a vase in which Tristan saved only barely. The next game was Hot and Cold and Erica took such a long time to find her hat, they just gave up on her. Actually, Jennie was the one who threw her cap, getting it from the roof ("How am I supposed to know that it was up THERE!"). Finally, at nine o'clock nighttime, it was dark enough to play Hide and Seek in the dark. Jennie and Bakura went around and cleared the place while Erica and Jackie took away anything that might break into the next room. Joey and Tristan moved the heavy objects while Yugi and Teá stood by and watched. Eventually the game began, Yugi being the first to count. Teá turned off the lights and hid somewhere.

"Ow! You stepped on my foot!" Erica hissed, squishing into the coat rack with Jackie.

Jackie whispered angrily, "Why'd you follow me anyway?"

"To be blunt, Yugi will see you first, instead of me."

Jackie glared at his friend, but she didn't notice. Suddenly everyone heard Yugi cry out and a loud _thump_ followed.

In a pained voice, Bakura said, "You found me, Yugi…Now can you please get off me?"

Of course Bakura had to be the one to count, but after a few minutes or so, Ryou didn't come in to find them. Immediately Jackie and Jennie knew something was wrong. Erica was completely clueless. Jennie came over from behind the couch to her friends.

"Let's go." she whispered. Jackie nodded and dragged Erica after him.

Teá saw a bright glow from behind the door and saw a taller Yugi walk out, following the other three.

"Stay here." Yami said. His three friends nodded, wondering in what was the problem.

Upstairs, Jennie took her metal bat, Jackie his stick (used for getting things off shelves), and Erica her pepper spray. They heard a _boom_ of something and then another _clang_ as a metal sound clashed on hard wood.

"Damn!" Erica yelled, kicking her locked bedroom.

Jackie and Jennie nodded at each other and ran at the door. After a few tries, Jennie's and Jackie's combined strengths struck the door practically off its hinges, making a racket that could wake a whole block.

Inside the room, Yami Bakura was holding the Millennium Ring, the safe-ruined.

Erica stepped forward and warned, "B.K., I know you're in there and you know you don't want to put that necklace on."

For a few seconds, Jennie thought she saw the innocent look of Ryou, but it disappeared quickly.

"Amusing, mortal." Bakura spat. "Hiding my Millennium item inside a pathetic safe. Did you really think it would stop me?"

Jackie stood up straight and contradicted, "Actually, the safe wasn't supposed to stop you. Only stall you so we could attack you!"

Jackie swung the stick at the evil Yami's hand, but it stopped in mid-air, lifting Jackie off the ground. Bakura's eye of Horus in his forehead glowed brightly as he watched the boy flail around.

"Shall I drop him?" Bakura asked, sneering.

Erica gritted her teeth and stomped hard on one of the wooden planks. It shot up on the other end, punching the albino in the jaws. Before Bakura could react, Erica did this again, again, and again. Jennie took this chance to tie a knot on one poster bed poles so Jackie could bounce on the horizontal draperies.

Bakura, however, grew enraged and jumped at Erica, flinging the Millennium Ring into the air by mistake. Jackie fell down and bounced on the trampoline-like drapes and swiftly grabbed the Egyptian relic as it flew up. Then Jennie joined in Erica's and Bakura's fight, whacking the yami's back with her metal bat. This continued for a few minutes, while Jackie cheered on. Suddenly the drapery ripped, sending Jackie tumbling down and falling on top of Bakura, knocking him out.

"Oi…my pancreas…" the boy moaned as Erica set Jackie on a chair. Jennie somehow lifted Bakura upon the bed.

"What are we going to do about Ryou…and his yami?" Jennie asked.

"And what are we going to tell the others?" Erica sighed, trying to break the Millennium item with Jennie's bat. Jackie was helping.

Jackie flung the Millennium Ring down hard and when he saw that it did no damage, he stood up and shrugged. "I think it's probably best to give this back to Bakura and-"

He was interrupted when his Exodia deck gave a slight tremor and a few sparks. This happened to Erica and Jennie, too.

"What the…" Erica drifted, looking at the door.

It was Yami Yugi.

* * *

(A/N: OH MY GOD, I AM DONE WITH THIS CHAPTER! (laughs) Well, I'm terribly sorry for the long wait. School's a total (insert insulting word here) and I didn't have as much time as to update this chapter…Also the prospect of typing up twelve pages of this chapter was kind of discouraging… 

I was surprised to get a lot of reviews! I felt so loved and guilty for not updating quickly. I probably lost a lot of you beautiful reviewers because of my laziness…

I give thanks to **candy-animelover600** officially my editor for Prophecy, **carolsi13** yeah, Erica's in a love triangle now, and what Mokuba said was funny, **seto'sfan001** naw, I couldn't let Seto do anything- he's never that bold! (laughs), **Sailor Elf **Orange soda drinking hobos and my lint? BRING IT ON, **Atem's Queen of The Nile **(laughs) lover boy funny, **DarkHand27** er…thanks for the socks..., **Hi** SHUT UP! THIS STORY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME SO QUIT IT!

See? I have a lot of reviews! So happy! Well, I know I made some mistakes somewhere, so just ignore that and if you can't, tell me and I'll revise it as soon as I can. Um…The next chapter is going to be pretty fun since it's wholly based on Seven Minutes in Heaven. And, like Jennie said, something special may happen!

Now press the little purple button on the bottom. If you do, I'll give you a cookie. Cookie is your friend.)


	12. Chapter 12 Seven Minutes in Hell

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: My psychiatrist says that I don't own YuGiOh. He says that I need to get help. He says that I'm crazy. My psychiatrist is my chair.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 12 – Seven Minutes in Hell

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Yami yelled, looking at the unconscious Bakura and the trio.

Apparently, during Jennie's party, Bakura had tried to take his stolen millennium item back, but created much noise in doing so. So, after Jennie, Jackie, and Erica had knocked out Yami Bakura with their awesome ninja skills (Jackie crashed on top of Bakura after falling off a suspending bed drape), Yami had come in, seeing all this with his own eyes.

The three friends looked at each other warily and shrugged.

"Um…B.K. fell asleep and…er…" Jennie hesitated.

Jackie shook his head and said, "We'll explain _later_, but right now isn't such a good time."

Erica agreed and added, "But we can tell you that you yamis are very important to us, as well as the world, from the actions that you do presently."

Yami narrowed his eyes and demanded, "What actions?"

Jennie rolled her eyes and snapped, "I wanted to say this for a long time: JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO US FOR ONCE, PHARAOH!"

"Explain to me soon then-" the tri-haired dude started, but stopped when the four heard some heard harsh arguing downstairs.

"What are you doing here, Kaiba?"

"The question us, what are **you** doing here?"

"**I'm** here because of Jennie's birthday!"

"Shut up, Joey! You'll attract Erica's and Jennie's attention!"

"Yes, be silent, puppy."

"WHY I OUTTA-"

The trio looked at each other with Yami and all of them raced downstairs. Jennie, being the slightly reckless one, slid down the railing, reaching the bottom first. She ran to the front door and saw Joey trying to kick Seto, but was held back by Tristan. Teá was trying to persuade Seto Kaiba to get out without being impolite.

Jennie smiled mischievously. She greeted, "Oh, Kaiba! Glad you came! We're just about to start our best game, but it wouldn't be fun without you, would it? The more the merrier I always say!"

Seto and the others gave a puzzled look and when Jennie's other two friends came, included with Yami, there grew even more awkward silence.

"Um…hi, Kaiba." Erica waved, giving a suspicious glance at Jennie.

Seto nodded and glared slightly at Yami.

Jennie suddenly yelled, breaking the tension almost too completely, "LET'S PLAY SEVEN MINUTES IN HEAVEN!"

* * *

Soon after everyone realized that Seto came over just to return Erica's notes for science class, they just ignored this and forced Kaiba to join in the party (at least that concept was for Jennie) and to bring Mokuba with him. While the raven-haired boy watched with interest, eating cookies, Jackie brought a soda bottle. It was still full with the cap on, but no one really noticed. Jennie told the rules and when she was almost finished, a loud _th-th-thump_ and a pained yell was heard. Ryou tumbled into the living room doorway, clutching his head. Tristan helped Bakura up and set him next to Joey. 

"Um…I think Yugi should start…" Jennie said, wary of both Ryou's health and his evil yami.

While Yugi spun the bottle, Jackie whispered, "Bakura has the millennium item…Ironically, I can sense it."

Jennie nodded gravely and met eyes with Erica. They both knew this could easily become dangerous.

The bottle spun slowly and eventually pointed to Joey and Tristan. If you took out the weird thoughts, than it would've been funny. Then everyone agreed to shorten the time to five minutes since it was too boring and slow to be seven minutes. After they came out, it was Teá's turn. The bottle rolled around and stopped on her and Jackie. Teá smiled while Jackie winced. Erica tried not to laugh.

"Have a good time, Jackie-boy!" Jennie winked.

Jackie cursed at his friend while he was pushed in by Joey. While Erica turned off the light for the closet, everyone except for Seto crowded by the door to eavesdrop on anything interesting.

"So…um…how long have you been friends with Erica and Jennie?" Teá asked.

Jackie moved to the other end of the small and narrow closet and muttered, "Erica is seven years and Jennie is three years."

"Oh, I see. Had any…um…dates?"

"Ha! If you mean Erica and Jennie, then I rather date a monkey since they're so similar."

Suddenly the closet door boomed as Jennie yelled, "I HEARD THAT, YOU MONGROL!"

Jackie coughed awkwardly and Teá tried to make herself more comfortable. Then she said quietly, "I mean, besides your friends."

The boy cleaned his glasses in nervousness and stammered, "Uh…um…I-I had arranged dates because of my parents, but no…i-if you count the boring times I had with the blind dates. Why? You want to go out with me or s-something?"

Teá whispered, "If I can…"

Everyone outside the door oooed and ahhhed. Then Jennie opened the door, making Jackie and Teá blink several times from the light.

"Come on, you lovebirds! Time to figure out who the next victims are!" Erica laughed, running to take her seat.

Teá blushed and Jackie wouldn't let go of Jennie's arm. He was trying to break it. This time Tristan spun the bottle and it pointed to him and Jennie. As five minutes went by and when Jackie opened the door, Jennie was putting Tristan in a headlock.

"Oh, hi! We were just wrestling to pass the time!" Jennie smiled. Tristan just gagged.

Blinking, everyone cautiously went back to their circle. Then Joey spun and it ended up on him and Teá. However, before Teá could get up, Jennie pointed at the ceiling and Bakura, Erica, and Seto looked after her finger. Then she changed the bottle to Erica and Ryou. Then Jackie changed it to Erica and Seto, but Jennie switched it again.

Erica and the other two looked confused, but when Erica saw that she was paired up with Bakura, she jumped up and clung to the sofa. "I'm not going in the closet! NEVER!"

Joey and Tristan dragged the girl, but had a tough time since she had a death grip with the couch.

Teá, meanwhile, was laughing and Seto was glowering. Bakura was blushing. Jackie and Jennie were arguing furiously, though.

"Are you crazy?" Jackie hissed.

Jennie snapped, "What's so bad about pairing her up with Bakura? After all, he DOES like her!"

"Yeah, but remember that Ryou has the millennium ring? Yami Bakura? THE AMBUSH THIRTY MINUTES AGO?"

"Oh crap."

Before the two could stop them, Joey and Tristan dumped Erica inside and Bakura, who was also tossed in.

"Have a fun time!" the two boys laughed. Yugi, who turned into Yami, grasped Jennie's and Jackie's shoulders.

"You do know that you have made a rather large mistake." Yami said, worry in his eyes.

"We know!" the two moaned.

In the closet, however…

The two was stuck. The boxes around them were piercing their backs and the coasts above them filled their noses with mothball smells. Apparently, the closet didn't have much room and so Erica and Bakura shifted around until Erica was on Bakura's legs and the boy was trapped underneath. They couldn't move an inch more.

"Erm…this is very uncomfortable…" Bakura whispered. His foot was numbing.

"Tell me about it!" Erica chuckled, moving her hand. She hit Bakura's nose by mistake. "Sorry!"

Ryou twitched. Unfortunately his hands were a bit tied up. His right was under him and his left was holding Erica's back so she wouldn't fall back into the boxes. Suddenly his nose went itchy.

"Uh…could you-" Before Ryou could ask, Erica gently scratched his nose.

Surprised, Bakura sneezed and murmured a thanks. He tapped his fingers on the floor.

Erica wet her lips and stumbled, "I'm sorry about…you know…the cross-dressing thing. I should've watched out in what I was saying."

Bakura smiled. "Oh, it's alright. I knew you mistakened me for…something else. It's alright."

Erica sighed. "How many more minutes?"

"I don't know."

Then the girl shifted around until Ryou flinched. His leg was cramping.

"Oops, sorry 'bout that." Erica muttered, going back to her original position.

Then Bakura's breathing slowed and his head fell onto Erica's shoulder.

'He fell asleep!' Erica thought. 'This can't be good…'

Unfortunately, she was right. As soon as Ryou fell asleep, the yami arouse and the closet was full of light as the millennium ring glowed.

"What a coincidence that my hikari's love is in his lap right now." Bakura sneered, trying to move his body. Apparently, the blasted girl held him in place.

"What are you talking about, leech?" Erica snapped, crossing her arms.

Bakura glared at the girl and growled, "I should send you to the Shadow Realm for your insolence!"

Erica simply stretched the boy's cheeks. "Apparently you can't do that, can you? Nevertheless move!"

Bakura's eyes twitched and hissed back, "I could easily send you to Hell if I wanted to! I don't need my hands, you know!"

"Then why don't you?"

"Because I won't."

"…Wha?"

Erica stopped expanding the albino's red cheeks and looked at the yami, who adverted his eyes away from her.

"Why not?" Erica repeated.

Bakura gritted his teeth and said in a very quiet voice, "My hikari seems to be very fond of you…as do I."

"Sorry, I didn't hear you. Repeat that again?" Erica asked.

Bakura gave her an irritated looks and snapped, "Because you are not even worth my time!"

Erica hit the man hard on the head, but as she did so, she fell even further in, making Bakura fall back and sending boxes flying.

"Worthless human…" he muttered, pushing a box off of his face. Erica was right on top of him, face very close to his.

"News flash, albino. You're human, too."

The boy faced Erica and their noses barely touched. While violet eyes met amber brown ones, Bakura whispered, "For you, I will be..."

Then he inched closer. Before he could do anything disturbing (in which Erica was literally trying to move away from), the door opened and Yugi peeped in, along with Jackie, Jennie, and Seto.

"Oooo! Getting' cozy I see!" Jennie winked.

Erica blushed and tried to get up while the transformed-back Ryou got poked by cardboard boxes.

"Good…She's in one piece…" Yugi sighed.

Jackie nodded in relief as Jennie helped Erica up and Teá moving the boxes away so Bakura could get up. Soon everything was settled, except for Seto glaring at poor Bakura. Jackie spun the bottle. It landed on Joey and Jennie. Erica nudged the blond playfully while Jennie swaggered to the closet. It seemed like she was pretty confident that nothing weird would happen to her. Joey, on the other hand, was blushing and drooling like a puppy. Puppy love!

"Joey?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Don't do anything weird or I will put you in a head lock just like Tristan."

Joey looked at the shadow next to him and rubbed his arms nervously. Even if he liked Jennie, she sure was scary sometimes, especially in the dark. Jennie, however, was humming a song in her head to pass the time.

Five minutes went by without a problem and the two came out, Joey a little quiet and Jennie whistling.

"Why didn't you do anything?" Erica hissed, watching Seto spin the bottle grudgingly.

Joey whined quietly, "Because she threatened to put me in a head lock!"

Erica simply slapped her forehead. Suddenly oooo's and ahhhh's sound and Seto told everyone to shut up. Curious, Joey and Erica looked down. The bottle was on Seto and Erica.

Completely shocked, Erica ran to the kitchen for refuge while Jennie tried to drag her friend back. Everyone started to laugh, while Seto reddened and huffed slightly. Abruptly, a huge _BONG_ erupted from the kitchen and Jennie came back, pushing a half-conscious girl in front of her. Puzzled, Yugi asked in what happened to Erica.

Jennie shoved the girl into the closet and sighed, "She crashed into the metal back door, trying to escape. She almost blacked out from the collision when I slipped and slammed her into the door."

Everyone stared incredulously at the birthday girl.

Finally Jackie yelled, "YOU IDIOT!"

* * *

"Um…So…what should we do, Kaiba?" Erica said, trying to adjust her eyes in the darkness. 

Seto didn't respond and continued to stare at the locked closet door. Erica followed his gaze and grinned. Suddenly she kicked the door, making eavesdroppers on the other side yell in pain and drop to floor.

"Now we can talk!" Erica smiled, facing the quiet man.

Seto cleared his throat quietly and whispered, feeling the heat creep up his cheeks, "Do you…erm…like Bakura?"

Erica smothered a laugh and said, "Of course not! He's just a good friend! Besides, who would like a psychopath like me?"

'I would.' Kaiba thought, feeling dread fly away from his chest.

"Why?" the girl asked after.

Seto flinched inwardly and used his coldest voice, "I was just asking. After all, you were disgustingly close to Bakura in this very closet."

Indignant, Erica snapped, "So you think he was trying to kiss me? I think not!"

"Then what were you doing in his lap?"

"I had no space to move anywhere for your information, you sabotaging, cold-hearted, obsessed, evil gaming freak of freaky icy blue eyes that scare the living daylights out of me when you glare and arrogant ass that has nothing better to do but make other people suffer, you sadistic duelist that was beaten by Yugi, who, I must like to say, is way better than you, so stop chasing him around like a rabid fan girl, you highly competitive, moronic, idiotic, cynical, stupid GEEK!"

Erica was standing up during this full out insult attack, cornering Seto into the boxes, and when she finally stopped, she sat down on the floor, panting slightly. Meanwhile, Jennie and Jackie were laughing their heads off at the other side of the closet door.

"God, I didn't mean anything by the comment." Kaiba muttered, getting up from the boxes.

Erica made an angry noise and kicked him on the foot. Smirking, he sat up and playfully messed up Erica's hair. Laughing, she chucked something powdery into his face. Wiping it off, Seto noticed that it was flour.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

Erica replied that it was from one of the boxes. Then they looked at each other mischievously.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the girl asked.

"Almost exactly." the boy responded.

For the next two minutes, the two talked quietly and when the last minute was almost up, Erica was suddenly curious about something.

"Hey, Seto?" Erica said. "Do you like anyone besides Mokuba?"

Kaiba hesitated and said with uncertainty, "Um…no."

"Oh. Okay. You're probably lying, but it's not my business."

Seto looked at the shadow of Erica's face and saw that she was also looking at him. Her golden brown eyes seemed to glimmer like an owl.

"I…I meant to tell you something, Lee, but I'm not too sure about it myself." Kaiba took a big breath. "I…uh…wanted to say that I, um, I-"

He was cut off suddenly when Jennie yelled, "Time's out!"

The doorknob started to turn and Kaiba sighed with regret. Erica quickly glanced at the moody teen with innocent curiosity and when the door opened…

_FWOOOOOM!_

Jennie was suddenly covered head to foot in white flour, with Erica and Seto holding the flour bags. There was awkward silence. Then Jackie started to choke, sputter, and finally laughed out loud. Soon everyone else was laughing.

"ERICA!" Jennie shrieked.

She jumped at the girl and when Erica dodged the lunge, she crashed into the closet. Seto and his partner split both ways and when Jennie chased after her friend, she slipped on the soda bottle that was used for the game. With a powerful spin, the soda bottle burst, shooting the cap at the wall (making a huge dent) and spraying its contents all over the laughing bystanders. The YuGiOh cast was soaked and so was Jackie. Then Mokuba chucked the left over flour on the floor at Tristan, he tackled the boy into Yugi, and soon it was a full out soda and flour fight.

It lasted until Tien-Xiang came home.

When he came into the chaos room, he saw that it was a complete mess and so were the others. No matter how much he yelled for them to stop, the noise was too great. **Now** he was angry. Walking over to his nephew, he grabbed Jackie's shirt collar and dragged him out of the room.

In the kitchen, Jackie finally noticed his uncle.

"What is the meaning of this! I at least expected to see you three to be spotless, but, instead, my living room is a complete mess!" Tien roared.

Jackie cringed and snapped back, "We were just having fun! Or is it our mission so important that we can't have any? We're teenagers! We were going to clean up afterwards!"

"You'd better!" Tien-Xiang growled.

He turned away, slammed his suitcase on the counter, and went outside. Then he came back with the garden hose, muttering to himself in Chinese. Jackie immediately knew what his uncle was going to do. He did this when he had a party and Jennie and Erica was creating havoc.

Covering his face in embarrassment, he heard his uncle turn on the hose and spray everyone in the room. There were some shrieks and curses, but when everyone saw who the person was that blasted the water, there was dead silence.

In a cold, quiet voice, Jackie heard Tien-Xiang politely tell the guests to leave. In a few minutes, the boy heard the front door close and his two best friends quietly go upstairs to clean up and change. Jackie went up the other stairs and did the same.

The party ended in melancholy joy.

* * *

(A/N: FINALLY I AM DONE! Thanks to a special someone (coughcandy-animelover600cough), I was forced to update this chapter two days earlier than it was supposed to. Grr…evil editor….. 

Anyway, I had a fun time typing this up and I noticed some "awkward" things that I had to revise. One example is this:

"Apparently, the closet didn't have much room and so Erica and Bakura shifted around until Erica was on Bakura's legs and the boy was trapped underneath. They couldn't move an inch more."

It was originally this:

"Erica and Bakura shifted around until Erica was on Bakura's lap and the boy was trapped underneath, unable to breath from the pressure."

That just sounds…wrong. Either that or I have a sick mind.

…

Probably the latter. (sweatdrop)

Besides, I knew that was bad to put there since my "editor" was laughing her head off when I read this sentence to her. There are other mistakes like this one, but not even my editor knows all of them. No one will ever know…

Er…yeah. Thanks to all my wonderful, devoted reviewers. I wouldn't be continuing this story if it wasn't for you guys! Really. I would be too lazy if wasn't for reviewers telling me to update or they would mug me with a sock puppet. So, here are the reviewers:

**Atem's Queen of The Nile** man, I hope you're still not deaf from the dance you went to…Here's a hearing aid. (throws a cotton ball at you); **candy-animelover600** NOW DRINK THE STUPID TEA! DAMN, BLACK-MAILING EDITOR!; **DarkHand27** yes, I love making cliffhangers, yes, Yami's hair fit through the doorway, and yes, you will get your cookie in due time; **TudeDeluxe** I like your name. Sounds like something from Oreos…; **TudeDeluxe AKA Dez** are you the same person as the other TudeDeluxe?; **Hi** yeah, nice to meet you, too.

NOW COOKIES FOR EVERYONE AND REVIEW!

Well, that's it for today! I'll probably update again around Thanksgiving so look out for the next chapter then! CAOI!)


	13. Chapter 13 Realization

**Prophecy**

Jennie: Apparently, the author can't write the disclaimer today since she's outside her house, protesting that she owns Yu-Gi-Oh and can do whatever she wants with them. Ironically, she is being attacked outside by several squirrels, whom have plotted revenge against her ever since she was two. I warned her.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 13 – Realization

The trio grudgingly cleaned up their birthday party mess with absolutely no help and continued to do their jobs until three in the morning. Tired, the three still remembered their four week grounding and weakly climbed up to bed. Jennie was too tired to open her presents, Jackie was too tired to check on the Leak, and Erica was too tired to even to get out of her dirty clothes and into her pajamas. Unfortunately, no matter how exhausted Erica was, she couldn't sleep. She decided to go onto the balcony to observe the night sky just for the spite of it. She gazed quietly at the moon. Then, for some reason, Erica had the urge to quote Romeo and Juliet. Standing up straight, she raised one hand into he night sky and imagined that she had the moon on her palm.

"Oh Romeo, Romeo." Erica recited. "Wherefore art thou Romeo? 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Oh, be some other name! That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Refuse they name, which is no part of thee, take all myself."

Smirking at her romanticisms, Erica was about to go back into her room, until a familiar voice replied, "I take thee at thy word. Call me but love. Henceforth I never will be Romeo!"

Surprised, she went to balcony again and saw Bakura down below.

"Hello," he waved.

"EH?" Erica squeaked. "What are you doing here?"

* * *

After some tossing and turning in bed, Jackie decided to check on the computers at the last minute (he didn't want to be yelled at again by his uncle for shirking his job) until he heard some voices down the hall. Suspicious, he crept quietly up to Erica's room. Opening the door, he saw Erica talking to someone below. Nudging the balcony door open, he startled his friend, but recollected herself and pointed down. Jackie followed after her finger and saw Bakura. 

"Oh! Hello, Jackie!" he smiled.

Lifting an eyebrow, Jackie asked Erica, "Why is he here at 3:30 A.M?"

She explained, "He forgot to tell me something before so he came to visit me."

Jackie stared at Erica, shrugged, and went back into the house. Closing the door behind him, he made his way down the stairs and into the basement. No one was in the room, so he settled into his uncle's chair and twirled around in it.

He knew that Erica was lying before, but he didn't exactly care. She was going to tell Jennie and him anyway. Then a _beep, beep_ sound came from the Shadow Realm detector, invading his random thoughts. Stopping the chair, he looked at the computer screen and saw various yami spirits fading from the city. All but two vanished.

'That's weird…' Jackie thought. 'Maybe the yamis are sleeping…'

He noticed that the dot at their house didn't disappear and…one at Kaiba's house didn't fade away, either. Frowning, he moved the mouse to Kaiba's dot, showing complex data on it. Then he moved it again to Bakura's dot. More data. Jackie leaned back on the swivel chair. If what he was thinking was right, he had to tell everyone in the household about this strange situation. This was definitely not good.

* * *

"Thank you for not telling Jackie in why I really came." Bakura grinned. 

Erica nodded and repeated in what the albino had said to her. "You came because for some reason, you felt like going here as if pulled by an invisible force."

"I thought that Jackie being extremely smart wouldn't believe in what I said." Bakura said, looking up at Erica. She wasn't looking at him, but at the sky.

"I believe you," she whispered. Suddenly she looked straight at Bakura and snapped, "Yami! I want to talk to you. Come out…NOW!"

A bright light engulfed the boy and the wicked Yami took place. Bored, he said casually, "What do you want, pesky human?"

Erica ignored this and said coldly, "I want an honest answer, Yami. Do you sense any Shadow Realm aura around Domino City?"

"What is the price?" he smiled mischievously.

"…What?"

"For me to tell you, you must tell me what I must have in return."

"Evil, conniving, blackmailing…FINE! I'll give you a kiss or something. I don't care."

"Fine. Yes, I did."

"Well? Anything more?"

"You simply asked if I sensed anything. Not where."

"WHAT! UGH! You cross-dressing, sick, evil, yami that not even nice enough to-"

"Alright now! No need to rant again like you did with Kaiba!"

"WELL?"

"So impatient. I have seen a strange black aura around Kaiba's house. Actually, the aura has completely covered his whole living quarters."

"Oh. That's not good. Do you think it's the Shadow Realm?"

"It may be."

There was a quiet silence after that. Erica started to whistle and tip-toed toward the balcony door. Suddenly she waved at Bakura and rant to the door. Surprised and angry, the yami jumped up, grabbed hold of the balcony railing and flipped over, landing in front of the escaping girl.

"You thought that you could run away without completing our deal?" he hissed.

Trying not to show panic on her face, she gave a silly emotion of 'you-got-me' and stuttered, "Well? W-what, er, what are you going to do? Send me to the Sha-Shadow Realm?"

Bakura walked closer to the backing girl and had a thoughtful look on his face.

"No…" he said quietly, eyes abruptly soft and gentle. "I have a better idea."

With that, he bent down and gently touched his lips against hers.

Erica didn't know what happened, but after that kiss, all she could see was darkness and feeling someone catching her as she fell.

* * *

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Erica shrieked as she woke up from bed. 

Looking around, she saw the sun outside her window and that she was in bed.

'Was it…all a dream?' she wondered. Then the door opened and Jennie came in, chucking bread at her.

"Get ready, sloth! We're late for school!" Jennie yelled, putting on her uniform. Then she ran out of the room, leaving the door opened.

Erica got up and slowly closed her door. Looking around, she searched for anything that proved her dream to be real or not. Seeing her balcony door unlocked, Erica took an intake of breath and panicked.

'Ohmigod. Ohmigod. Ohmigod. I **never** leave leave my door unlocked. Oh no. He did kiss me! Ohmigod. Ohmigod. Ohmigod…I HAVE TO WASH MY MOUTH!'

With that, Erica raced to the bathroom and spent twenty minutes brushing her teeth, muttering things about harassment, disgusting, and a lot of torture methods.

When Jackie and Jennie went up to Erica's room, they saw her still brushing her teeth and wearing her uniform jacket at the same time. The breakfast bread remained forgotten on the floor.

"What's with her?" Jennie asked.

Jackie stared at Erica, who was walking back and forth. "I have no idea whatsoever."

Later, when the three walked to school, Jackie was telling his friends about the shadow aura around Kaiba's house, but Jennie was the only one listening. Erica, however, was spacing out.

Then, with sheer irritation, Jennie turned around and snapped, "Out with it, you mumbling psychopath!"

Startled, Erica looked dazed and confused. Immediately concerned, the two friends asked what was wrong.

The girl was silent. After three minutes, Erica nervously looked at the ground and rushed out, "BakuracametoourhousetosaythathewantedtotellmesomethingandImadeadealwithhim sohecantellmewhatheneededtotellmeanditwastheevilyamisothatwhenIranawayafterhetold-methatashadowaurawasaroundSeto'shousehecutmeoffandkissedmeandIfainted."

Jackie and Jennie stared at Erica for a few seconds. Suddenly, Jennie fell over and shrieked with laughter. Jackie was still puzzled.

"The what-da-wha with the wha?" he imitated Erica.

Jennie was coughing and trying to breathe. Finally, she replied to Jackie, "Bakura came. Turned yami. Kaiba's house, Shadow Realm leak. B.K. kissed her for return of info. Fainted."

Now it was Jackie's turn to laugh. Jennie joined in after she got her strength back. Humiliated and angry, Erica glared at Jennie accusingly.

"Oh, I wouldn't be laughing! Joey likes **you**, blind one," she yelled, "and Teá likes you, Jackie! They were the ones who sent you the letters! They told me so!"

Abruptly, Jennie and Jackie stopped laughing and gaped at Erica. She realized her mistake and covered her mouth in horror.

"Um…uh…Forget what I said! You didn't hear anything!" Erica whispered. Apparently, it was a bit too late for that.

"Oh yeah? I heard that Seto Kaiba likes you!" the two snapped.

"WHAT! Oh shit, you have to be joking…"

The three groaned and dragged themselves to school. It was going to be a long day, now that they knew practically the whole cast of YuGiOh liked them.

* * *

In class, Joey blinked at the hunched up trio, who were talking in low voices. Looking baffled, he turned around and faced Tristan. 

"Hey, Tristan," Joey bothered, shaking his friend's elbow. "Don't ya think that Jennie's a bit distant? She ignores me whenever I come her way."

Teá agreed to this with passion and blushed when Yugi and Tristan looked at the female with a slight scared expression.

"Maybe they just want to be alone." Yugi advised, putting away his bento box.

Suddenly Erica jumped up from her seat and shouted with defiance, "HELL, NO! I am not going! Not after I learned that sick secret! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

Jennie and Jackie pulled her back down and whispered furiously. Erica seemed to calm down and listened to whatever Jackie was talking about.

"What was that about?" Teá asked. The others shrugged.

* * *

"Look. We're going with you to Seto's house. After all, we do need a basic blueprint of his house so we can get in without any trouble now that we know his house is in the very center of the Leak," Jackie assured the uneasy girls, who were giving each other nervous glances. 

Jennie huffed and muttered, "I know that plan is fool proof, but going right into the enemy's territory is not my idea of fun."

"I know, but that's the only thing we can do right now-" Jackie sighed, but Erica seemed to be looking around, not listening.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Kaiba…" she said. "He…he didn't come to school, did he?"

Jennie rolled her eyes. "Oh, so **now** you're worrying about him? Relax. He sometimes doesn't come to school, remember?"

"Yeah, but…he came to school everyday ever since we came."

Jennie and Erica looked at Jackie. Then he raised his arms up in defeat and said tiredly, "Alright, alright! I'll call him on my cell!"

Then he took silver earphone from his backpack, put it to his ear, connected it to the glasses, connected the glass's wire to a small keyboard that he revealed from his jacket, and dialed Kaiba's phone. The other two waited and no one else seemed to notice that Jackie was breaking the rules on the "no cell phones". After a few minutes, he frowned and put the keyboard and wires away.

"Strangely, I got nothing. Home phone's not busy or even on. I called his company building and he wasn't at his office, but still at home," Jackie said, leaning on the back of the chair.

Erica looked at the ceiling and Jennie asked, "Do you think anything happened?"

"I don't know. We still gotta check it out, though. This doesn't change our plans," he answered.

"What about his cell phone?" Erica inquired.

"Presumably dead."

The trio sat in silence until the school bell rang, signifying the end of lunch and the start of class.

'I hope he's okay…' Erica worried.

Jennie pat her friend comfortingly and smiled.

* * *

…But somewhere in the midst of Domino City, an invisible barrier of black energy soaked up any electricity or physical strength. It was slowly getting bigger, a small mansion hidden deep inside, the inhabitants…trapped.

* * *

A/N: Mwahahahahaha…What happened to Seto Kaiba? Is he…(gasp) DEAD? (laughs) Sorry about that. I just had to say it. Anyway, I bet you're wondering what the hell the pairings are about now. It's pretty obvious with the Joey and Teá thing (Jackie and Jennie doesn't like them back; how sad…), but what about Erica? Well, I had issues with this character. In the end, I just decided to ditch Ryou and just have Yami Bakura and Seto. So…FORGET EVERYTHING ABOUT RYOU! He's not important anymore…He is…USELESS! MWAHAHAHA! 

Candy does things to you. Be very careful.

Anyway, I didn't get as much reviews as I did before, but that's okay. I'm still very happy that someone's actually reviewing at all. Unfortunately, has just recently issued that authors can't respond to reviewers on chapters…which is total crap. First they say author notes can't be individual chapters, then no song stories, then no CYOAs, and then no second-person POV…What the hell! I understand about having no author notes on individual chapters and song stories, but CYOAs, second-person POV, **and** no response to reviewers? That's just bull! CYOAs are considered stories and so are second-person POVs! Perhaps responses to reviewers are a bit amateurish, but we need to say our thanks! (huffs angrily)

Bah. Well, you know what to do! Review please!


	14. Chapter 14 Enter the Shadow Realm

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: You know…the usual…I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh…I assume that you don't own Yu-Gi-Oh either…It's all happy. Yay.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 14 – Enter the Shadow Realm

The trio stared at the looming dark gate in front of them and each felt a bit nervous and scared. After suspecting something was wrong when Seto Kaiba hadn't come to school, even when Jackie called his house, his work, and his cell phone, Jennie, Jackie, and Erica decided to visit the man's house after school. However, each step that edged closer and closer to Seto's mansion was making them feel wary and sent them clutching onto their Exodia decks for comfort. After all, they were walking directly into their enemy's territory.

"You ring the bell," Erica said, poking Jennie.

"Nuh uh! Jackie, you ring the bell," she replied.

The boy shook his head furiously. The three stared at the gate.

"Um…I'm going home," Jennie drifted, turning around, but Erica grabbed onto her collar, almost choking her.

"Ohhh no." Erica snapped. "You're not abandoning us now!"

Jennie whimpered and Jackie stuttered, "U-um…shouldn't we have s-some y-yami close by or s-something?"

The dark brown haired girl, getting irritated by her two friends' cowardness (though she was scared herself) hissed, "Yeah, but whom, dim wit?"

As if in answer, arms circled Erica's waist and a seductive voice whispered in her ear, "Why, your loyal albino, of course."

Completely frozen from shock, Erica snapped together like a board. Then Jennie started to attack Yami Bakura with her school bag. Jackie just tried to get his friend out of shock.

"LAY OFF HER, YOU LECHEROUS YAMI! HOW DARE YOU KISS AND HUG MY BEST FRIEND! DIIIIIIE!" Jennie shrieked, beating the albino.

Suddenly Erica was snapped out of her temporary coma and a visible black aura surrounded her. She clutched her bag tightly and fire burned in her eyes. Jackie backed away slowly. The only time when he saw this part of Erica was when some stupid pervert harassed her in middle school. He was still in the hospital, whatever he did.

"BAKURAAAA!" Erica yelled furiously.

Then she turned around, pushed Jennie out of the way, and gave a full out attack on the Yami, including various scratches, kicks, punches, and a school bag attack that broke the sound barrier. This went on for thirty minutes, the other two friends of Erica fearfully watching in the sidelines.

Finally, Erica stopped, panting heavily, viewing her damage. She seemed to be satisfied and walked over to the Seto's mansion gate, leaning against it. Jackie and Jennie (who were covering each other's eyes) looked at the Yami and winced. The Yami was healing quickly due to his powers, but the wounds that took time to close was brutal and severe. It was like watching a bloody horror movie rewind.

When he finally healed, he jumped onto his feet and furiously stomped towards Erica. Fortunately, he stopped and backed away when she held up her ripped bag threateningly.

"Alrighty…Let's…er…go inside the house now…" Jackie said warily, watching Bakura fight his two emotions on his face; hatred for being humiliated by a girl, but still liking Erica.

With a deep breath, the three pressed the button to his house together, the yami quietly standing by. With a crackle of static on the monitor, the metal black gates creaked open, revealing the spooky house that was covered in dark aura which only the four could see. Leaving behind his fear, Jackie took the first step.

* * *

"Dang! This place is colder than Erica's room in the summer!" Jennie shivered.

Bakura gave a puzzled look and Jackie explained that the dark brown-haired girl always kept her air conditioner on in the summer, even when the room was under thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit. Erica simply glared at the other three.

After walking for awhile, they all noticed that they weren't getting any closer to Seto's house, though it appeared in front of them.

"We must be going around in circles!" Erica exclaimed.

Jennie looked around and saw glimpses of shadows in the fog-like aura.

"Um…Bakura?" Jackie asked, also spotting the moving shadows. "Are we…er…in the Shadow Realm?"

The yami rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "No, we're in dark storm cloud!"

"Not funny!" Erica snapped back.

Jennie waved her arms up and shouted, her voice echoing, "Now what do we do? We're stuck!"

Bakura smirked and started to walk off, dragging a reluctant Erica behind him. The other two saw the yami go, so they followed after him. Bakura stopped a few times, standing perfectly still, and started off again. Though this was very annoying, the four reached the door to Kaiba's living quarters without any trouble at all. Erica angrily snapped her sore wrist out of Bakura's grip and kicked him in the shins for good measure. The yami winced, but didn't do anything. Silently, Jackie tried to push the doors open, but it was stuck tight.

"Care to help?" he grunted, continuing to push.

Jennie and Erica dropped their school bags and began to push at the door with Jackie. Bakura was just observing his nails. Slowly, the door opened, revealing a huge purple glob covering the doorway.

"Oh, how simply convenient!" Jennie yelled, making a rude hand gesture at the squishy glob.

After a few moments of silence, Erica tilted her head and rubbed the back of her neck. "Uh…I think it's sleeping."

"It is a guardian mainly used to protect tombs of pharaohs or high priests. Sometimes it is used as a guard for treasures. There is a good reason for using this monster, too." The yami said, standing next to Erica and Jackie.

"Foo-shmoo! That thing is harmless!" the hacker-boy retorted, stepping into the house.

Before he could take another step, though, the glob shivered and opened huge very blood-shot eyes; _four_ eyes to be more precise. With all pupils looking at Jackie, the boy's feet froze to the floor, preventing him from running away. When the situation couldn't get any worse, the glob sprouted millions of spikes from its jelly flesh and started to roll toward the horrified boy. Erica yelled in panic and Jennie covered her eyes. Abruptly, a bright light shot out from the Yami Bakura's forehead, forming the eye of Horus.

Jackie stumbled backwards all of a sudden, released from the spell. The glob looked at Bakura with vague interest.

"Go," Bakura whispered, looking at the monster eye to eye.

Jennie went to Jackie's side and they ran deep inside the house, but Erica paused and looked back at the yami. "But what about-"

"NOW!" In a softer voice, Bakura smiled comfortingly, "I will catch up."

Erica nodded and ran after her friends.

* * *

After running for awhile, the trio stopped to take a breather and during that moment, Jennie whacked Jackie on the head.

"You nimrod!" Jennie yelled. "You and your stupid pride! You could've gotten yourself killed!"

Jackie bickered back, "How was I supposed to know that purple thing could grow spikes!"

"Helloooo! Didn't B.K. say that it was dangerous? Now Bakura is out there, fighting a blob!" Erica yelled into Jackie's ear, emphasizing on the word, 'dangerous.'

The boy made a face, but it soon disappeared when he had as sudden thought.

"What if…" he drifted, "This is the Shadow Realm, right? Do you think our cards can work in here? I mean, like in real form?"

Jennie and Erica looked at each other. With a shrug, they all took out their cards. What was there to lose?

"Wind Ryu!" Erica shouted.

Jennie yelled after, "Armored Falcon!"

And finally, Jackie bellowed, "Silver Tigress!"

A translucent, pale blue winged serpent appeared next to Erica, a huge, golden armored bird with sharp talons next to Jennie, and white tiger with silver stripes (that bigger than a car) roared close to Jackie. With a cheer, the three climbed onto their steeds and speedily went through the pitch black halls, following Jennie's shining compass, which she summoned from her magic card.

A few times, zombie like things popped out of the shadows or ground, but with their combined efforts, the three defeated them easily…until they finally came up to where Seto and Mokuba was supposed to be.

"Okay. Who knows what's on the other end so we got to be care-HEY!" Erica yelled, seeing Jackie and Jennie knock the door down with their monsters.

The door crashed to the floor and Jennie feebly smiled when Erica gave both of her friends a death glare. Then the three turned serious and squinted through the dark room.

"Oi, there's Kaiba and Mokuba!" Jennie said, pointing at two slumped figures on the floor.

In alarm, Erica came forward and when the two followed her into the room, the doors slammed shut behind them. Then gigantic green hands silently appeared below them, grabbing their monster and dragging them back into the ground, dropping the trio on the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Jackie exclaimed, massaging his back.

Erica suddenly stood up and with a worried expression, she took out her Exodia deck. "No time to worry about those hands. Look."

Jennie and Jackie gazed at where Erica pointed to. Three monsters came out of the shadows and on them were caped human things with their hoods covering their faces. All of the monsters were like Godzilla, only that they were black, had red eyes, longer fangs and talons, taller, and basically ten times worse than Japan's walking disaster.

"Oh damn." The threesome muttered.

Roaring, the three black Godzillas attacked the trio with snapping jaws, thrashing tails, and stomping feet. Panting, Erica and Jennie ran into a small hole, screaming as one of the monsters tried to shove his mouth inside the hole. Then it got its snout stuck in it. Exhaling stinky breath, the Godzilla tried to pull its mouth out.

"Now what!" Erica shouted, kicking at the dinosaur's nose.

Jennie dodged one of the fangs that almost dug into her leg. "How the hell am I supposed to know!"

"Cards! Use the cards!"

Jennie and Erica flipped through their decks and when they chose their selection, the monster sniffed in the magic card fumes. With a bloodcurdling roar, the dinosaur shrinked until it was the size of Erica's shoe. With a feeble "Meep!" it curled up and fell asleep.

"Reverse Evolution!" the two girls high-fived.

Then the man who was riding and directing the monster, got up from the floor, and took out a familiar card.

"The Shadow Cards," Jennie whispered.

With a quick glance at each other, they went separate ways, trying to avoid the other monsters. Jackie, meanwhile, was in deep trouble. He was chained to the wall and one of the Godzillas hungrily eyed him, waiting for its rider to set loose its reins.

The caped man spoke in a raspy voice, "Give me the Exodia cards and you may live."

The boy snorted and pulled at his chains. The shackles only held tighter. When he spotted Erica running behind the lizard in front of him, he made the shackles make as much noise as possible. Fortunately, his friend heard him and stopped. Distracting the dinosaur from Erica, he started to do the Macarena. The black, red-eyed monster and its rider stared at the dancing boy.

Abruptly, during the hacker-boy's crazy boogie, the caped man felt the Exodia's aura close to him. Turning around, it screamed in fury as it saw Erica taking out a trap card. Instantly, the enemy vanished in a burst of smoke and the chains that held Jackie disappeared.

Grabbing the boy's arm, Erica shouted, "Come on! We gotta help Jennie!"

Jennie, in the moment, was running across the room with the last Godzilla chasing after her. The rider cackled evilly as his shadow steed snapped at her ankles.

"Why meeee!" she cried. Then she spotted her two friends in front of her, holding cards. With a look from the duo, Jennie fell onto the floor and ducked.

With a ray of light, the remaining nuisance was obliterated. Before they could celebrate, six more of the same monster reappeared, snarling.

"Oh, just magnificent in how to end my life," Jackie said sarcastically.

When all of the monsters charged at them, the doors of the immense room flew open and a great flash of light engulfed the room for a couple of seconds. When the light finally faded, the room was empty and at the doorway was a battered Bakura.

The man grinned, but it faded as he fell forward.

"Bakura," Erica yelled, racing to the yami, "are you okay?"

The albino waved the girl away as he weakly got up. "I told you I would catch up. Now, let's get out of here. The shadows are getting stronger every minute."

Jennie picked up Mokuba while Jackie pushed Kaiba onto his shoulder.

"Yeah, but how do we get out of here really quickly?" Jennie said. Everyone looked at Erica. She merely smiled.

"I think I have an idea," the girl smirked.

* * *

Everyone screamed in panic and fear as Erica's super fast Elemental Dragon raced through the halls by either blasting or dodging the enemies before it. Jennie and Jackie clung onto the dragon's long mane while holding their unconscious victims of the Shadow Realm. At the same time, Erica and Bakura was at the head, directing her dragon in where to go. Eventually, they reached the exit of the house, but more unfortunate events occurred.

One was that the Elemental Dragon disappeared once it left Kaiba's mansion. Two was that the Shadow Realm had taken solid form into a huge glob…that turned into a titanic spider with sharp legs and fangs.

"Oh #$&!" Jackie, Jennie, and Erica cursed as the huge spider struggled to get out of the house.

"What do we do now?" Jennie yelled, looking at Bakura. He was no help. He seemed just as hopeless as she was.

Erica frantically looked around for something of use. Then she saw a black luxury car that Kaiba usually drove. "Everyone, into the car!"

The spider shifted its form, slithered out through any openings, and combined itself back together, hissing at the group. Quickly everyone went to the car; Erica was at the driver's seat, Bakura was in the right front seat, and Jennie and Jackie was in the backseats with Seto and Mokuba. While Jennie and Jackie were looking behind them, Bakura saw Erica look at the controls.

"Do you know how to drive?" Bakura asked nervously.

Erica grinned and put her hands on the steering wheel. Jackie and Jennie swung around and fearfully buckled up their seatbelts.

"Oh, God, no…" Jackie whispered, face turning pale.

"Hell, yeah, I know how to drive!" exclaimed Erica, starting Kaiba's car (which had the key conveniently in its the slot) and throwing it in reverse. "Sit down, shut up, and hang on!"

Suddenly the car violently lurched backwards and sped under the snapping spider. Then Erica put the car forward, turned the steering wheel (everyone crashed into the windows), and hit the pedal hard. Going one hundred miles per hour, the vehicle crashed through the metal gates and continued to race forward, avoiding other cars, pedestrians, and finally stopping when they ended up in a park. Luckily, the Shadow Realm's boundary was just around the mansion. However, it wasn't so nice for the passengers in the car.

When Erica quickly parked, Jennie and Jackie ran out to somewhere so they could lose their lunch and breakfast. Bakura just got out of the car so he could calm his rapidly beating heart. When Erica made sure that Seto and Mokuba was fine (besides the fact that they were deprived of food and water and some new bruises from the ride), she, too, got out and sat on the hood of the dented, scratched, steaming automobile, watching Bakura breathe slowly.

"Nice driving, eh?" Erica said.

Yami Bakura gave the girl an incredulous look and yelled shrilly, "You practically killed us while you were driving that blasted thing! It was safer and more comfortable, mind you, to be fighting the Shadow Realm than go in the same car with you driving! I will never, ever get into that car again!"

Erica laughed out loud. "I was just kidding, B.K.! After all, I'm the only one without the driver's license therefore the only reckless driver in this whole team. So, if it wasn't for me, you'd all be dead!"

Bakura looked at the girl squarely in the eyes and saw pure enjoyment shining in her amber irises. With amazement, he realized that this girl practically reveled in her friend's fears…which only made him attracted to her even more.

When Erica saw the mischievous look in the yami's eyes, she stopped smiling and backed away. "Ohhhhh no. You are not kissing me again. I swear, if you do, I'll-"

Too late.

Boy kisses girl full on the mouth.

Friends laugh hysterically again.

Girl attacks boy viciously despite injuries.

Friends are now scared.

Chaos starts all over again.

* * *

A/N: Whew, I'm finally done! Yay! Anyway, I like Erica's driving. I wish I could drive like that. (laughs) So, happy belated Christmas and hope you enjoyed this chapter. As usual, I would like to thanks my reviewers who had been so kindly reading this junk that's actually called a story. Sohere are the names!

DarkHand27, Atem's Queen of The Nile, TudeDeluxe, carolsi13, candy-animelover600, and Hi.

Thanks for all your support! Yay! HAVE A CANDY CANE! (throws candy canes at the reviewers). For the people who haven't reviewed, no candy for you! Hmph!

Hey…Doesn't candy canes remind you of that crazy guy that Jennie versed against at Field Day? Hmm…CRAZY PEOPLE WILL HAUNT YOU IN YOUR DREAMS WITH CREEPY COLD FINGERS! MWAHAHAHAHA!

Erm…yeah. You know the drill! Review, review, and review!


	15. Chapter 15 Talk, Fight, Talk

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: Bears are fuzzy.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 15 – Talk, Fight, Talk

After arriving back home from their little adventure with the Shadow Realm in order to rescue the Kaiba brothers (Jennie drove) and got a sound scolding from Tien-Xiang, Jackie and his uncle lifted the Kaiba's into a single guest room. Bakura just watched Jennie get the medical supplies while Erica was cooking food for the weakened patients.

A short time later, while Erica was upstairs to take care of the victims, everyone else talked in the library about what happened.

"So you're telling me that Seto's house turned out to be a full out enemy base for the Shadow Realm?" Tien-Xiang said with uncertainty.

Jackie and Jennie nodded. Bakura yawned.

"What puzzles me is that why does the Leak appear in Kaiba's mansion of all places? And why drain the Kaibas of energy?" Jackie inquired.

Tien-Xiang paced back and forth in the room and muttered, "The Leak may have formed in Seto's house since he kept opening portals."

"The human is partially right." Bakura said with boredom. "Not only because of Kaiba's portals, but it is also because he used to be the High Priest in Ancient Egypt. His spiritual power is still strong so his house is the ideal place to grow quickly. Besides, his house is sufficient enough to hold a huge monster."

Jennie questioned, "What about the Kaiba's themselves? Why did they look half-starved and weak?"

"The Realm was feeding on Kaiba's magic. Human batteries, to be simple," the yami said casually.

Jennie, Jackie, and Tien winced visibly.

Then Yami Bakura continued, "Of course, if we had waited a day longer, the victims would have become shriveled mummies by the time we would save them."

Jackie turned pale. Jennie kicked Bakura under the table and shrieked, "Stop it! That's not funny, you know!"

Bakura cackled evilly.

* * *

Erica leaned back on her chair and sighed. The two boys had somehow eaten their food while unconscious, had been bandaged up, and were now sleeping peacefully. Why did she feel like something was missing, though? Maybe it was the house's usual hubbub or Seto's glare. The tomboy sighed again.

The little raven-haired boy stirred and frowned with concern. He seemed to be having a bad dream. Quietly, Erica moved the stray strands of the boy's hair away and put her cool hand on his forehead, petting it gently. Mokuba slipped into a peaceful slumber once again.

Erica looked at the two Kaibas and smiled. They looked so adorable sleeping side by side. Then the door creaked open and her two friends crept inside the room. The trio moved to a corner, Jennie and Jackie explaining about the Shadow Realm issue with Erica.

In the middle of the talk, Jennie suddenly gasped. Alarmed, Jackie and Erica looked at her.

"What's wrong?" Erica asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Jennie moaned, "I forgot about our school books!"

"Oh, yeah…We left it at the evil mansion," Jackie said to himself.

"Then we'll buy the new texts tomorrow or something," the dark brown-haired girl shrugged.

Jennie whacked Erica the upside of her head and snapped, "Stores are closed tomorrow, you dimwit!"

Erica hissed back, "Yeah, well, I can't leave the Kaibas alone!"

Tien-Xiang appeared at the door and held up his car keys. "I'm going to the store and dropping off the albino afterwards. Anyone need anything?"

The Jennie and Jackie looked at each other. Then the duo ran out the door and the garage door slammed open downstairs.

Confused, the uncle gave a puzzled glance and winked, "Well now, I have two bodyguards to protect me from the yami!"

Erica chuckled as Tien went down the stairs. Then Bakura appeared out of nowhere and kissed her on the cheek. He ran off before the tomboy could throw anything sharp at him. Furious, she stomped back into the room and swore revenge to the sick yami.

* * *

Jennie and Jackie didn't come back to the house until it was night time, while Tien-Xiang was back at his work again because of some kind of emergency. The two were tired, hungry, and cranky. Erica didn't know what happened on the way back, but the duo was giving each other vicious glares. The tension finally exploded over dinner when Jackie and Jennie fought over the last toasted potato.

"Give it, Teá-lover!" Jennie yelled.

"I called dibs on it! BACK OFF!" the hacker bellowed.

The two were fighting to the death with their chopsticks. Erica was looking on uncertainly, still eating. While the braided-hair girl and the hacker boy were poking each other with their eating utensils, Erica just bent over and took the potato herself. Jennie and Jackie stopped fighting and angrily watched the girl happily (and innocently) munch on the crispy potato.

"What?" she said, after swallowing it.

Suddenly the two started to rant about the other to Erica in fast tones, insults, glares, and pointing fingers included.

After five dizzying minutes, they suddenly stopped screaming, looked at each other, and shouted defiantly, "I AM NOT!"

Erica blinked. "Uh…what?"

Jennie pounded her fist on the table and pointed accusingly, "He vandalized on the text books and got **me** in trouble by the staff and I got kicked out! It was the only manga store on the whole block!"

Jackie gritted his teeth and tattled, "Jennie pushed me into the street and almost got me run over!"

"And he left my wallet on the road to get trampled and wreaked!"

"You almost got me killed!"

"Well, I said I was sorry!"

"I did, too!"

"No, you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"Liar!"

"Hag!"

"Son of a-"

"SHUT UP!" Erica barked.

Jennie and Jackie glowered at each other, but stayed silent.

"Look," the tomboy reasoned, swallowing her food, "Jackie always writes on books and we all get kicked out, but we don't care. We tried to kill each other more than once for good fun, and I lost your wallet twice, Jennie. So what's the big idea? We always did those things and we never got mad at each other! Why now?"

Jackie and Jennie pointed at each other, "He/She made me have a date with Teá/Joey!"

At first Erica stared and actually stopped eating. Then she started to laugh, harder and harder each second. Finally, she stopped when she started to choke. Erica raced to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water.

Trying to look serious, she coughed and asked, "Then why didn't you just say no?"

The two teenagers looked down and turned red.

"We…we didn't want them to be sad…" Jackie drifted.

Erica shook her head and muttered, "Then that's your own fault. Not each others."

The dinner ended in silence after that.

* * *

When Erica entered her room after attending the patients, she saw Jennie reading a comic book on her bed.

"Jennie…I want to go to sleep and reading on my bed is no help…" the tomboy sighed, collapsing onto the sofa.

Her friend slammed the book closed and stared hard at Erica.

The dark brown-haired girl blinked. "What? Is there something on my face?"

Jennie shook her head and asked out of the blue, "What would you do on a date?"

"Oh, I don't know!" Erica snorted. "I've never been on a date so how should I know?"

"Seriously."

"Hmm…well…I would probably get to know the person better…Hey, does this have anything to do with your date with Joey?"

"No!"

Erica gave Jennie a look.

"Well…yeah. But I don't wanna go!"

"Then put him off!"

"I can't do that! Would you do that to a guy if he suddenly admitted his love for you?"

"I guess not. Then just reject him gently so he gets the idea and backs off."

"Reject gently? Where the hell did you get that? Oprah?"

"Ugh, I don't listen to those shows. You know I hate them."

"Jeez, ever heard of sarcasm?"

Erica's door opened and Jackie sat on a chair between the two girls. Smirking, he commented, "In your case, Jennie, sarcasm is hard to make out."

The two girls grinned and went to more serious things.

"How do we get the Shadow Realm out of Kaiba's house?" Erica asked.

Jackie shrugged. "Tien says that we have to defeat the leader. If we do that, then the Shadow Realm will go back to its…well…'home' and stay there for a while. A long while."

"That's not going to be easy, though. Just fighting its minions was hard enough," Jennie smartly said.

Then Erica sat up from the couch and thought out loud, "Talking about minions, we haven't seen those guys outside the base for some time."

"It is because the Shadow Realm needs as much energy as possible to completely overcome all the yamis, you three, and this city. Its next goal would probably be the world," a mysterious voice concluded. The trio turned to see Tien-Xiang at the door.

The three teens welcomed Jackie's uncle into the room and smiled happily when he came in with their new text books.

Then Erica looked up from the books and asked, "The whole world? Why?"

Tien-Xiang put a hand to his chin. "Probably to have immortality, freedom, and to cause havoc on the living. You know the rest when you watch the anime shows."

"When can we attack the Realm?" Jennie inquired.

"It would be best if done in the morning or mid-day. That's when the Shadow Realm is the weakest," the uncle answered.

Jackie looked at his relative. "Will we…you know…get hurt? Like, really badly?"

Tien-Xiang's face darkened with concern. "I didn't say it would be safe, Jackie, but Yami Bakura told me that he would protect you three…or at least Erica."

Erica sniffed disapprovingly and angrily muttered, "That's exactly what the evil yami would do. Sick jerk."

Everyone laughed and silently decided to get off the subject as they all looked inside the books for any vandalizing.

* * *

A/N: Ah, that was a lot of dialogue. I hope you readers didn't get bored. Anyway, the next chapter should be interesting since Jackie and Jennie is going to be on a date. Also, since Erica is all home alone with Seto, who knows what will happen! (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) How's that for a chapter review? (laughs and dodges someone's shoe)

Anyway, I'd like to thank my readers for staying with me. You guys are the cooooolest! Sothese are the people!

**DarkHand27**, **TudeDeluxe** thanks for your support and your wish on Kaiba waking up to seeing Bakura kissing Erica might come sooner than you think, and **Atem's Queen of The Nile** thanks for your five reviews! I feel loved!

Aw…what happened to me other reviewers? Maybe I should update more often so I wouldn't lose them…Oh yeah. Speaking of updating, I'm pretty sure you noticed that I update about once a month so it'll be a good idea to put me on Story Alert.

Well, you know the drill people! REVIEW AND REVIEW!


	16. Chapter 16 Triple Date

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: Flamingos will take over the world with their one-legged ninja skillz!

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 16 – Triple Date

"Ha, haaaaa! Have a nice time, suckers!" Erica mocked, watching Jackie and Jennie walk off down the drive way from the front door.

Tien-Xiang stood next to the teasing girl and added in a fake sympathetic voice, "Aw, Erica, you shouldn't make them feel so bad! After all, you just might lower their chances of getting married!"

Jackie's uncle and Erica laughed hysterically and quickly closed the door when Jennie spun around and threw fist sized rocks at them.

"I swear I'm going to kill all of 'em when I come back…" the braided girl seethed.

Jackie simply rolled his eyes and dragged Jennie away to the center of Domino City for their unwanted date. They had a long day to go…

* * *

The two friends met with Joey and Teá and grimaced visibly when they were told it was going to be a double date. 

"Do we **have** to?" Jennie whined.

Joey scratched his head, looking concerned at Jennie's reluctance to go around with the others. "Well, if you don't want to then we don't have to…."

Jackie glared at Jennie. If they didn't like them in a romantic way, that didn't mean they had to show it. Jennie caught the hacker boy's warning look and messed up her hair from frustration. With hair puffing out like an afro, she sent a vicious look at Joey and Teá as if it was all their fault. They looked back at her with blank faces.

Then, with a voice of hopelessness, Jennie sighed, "Oh, fine. Let's go all together."

"Yay! I knew you would like it!" Teá cheered. With that, she latched onto Jackie's arm and snuggled against him.

The boy's eye twitched. With a sharp turn, he stomped off with Teá, muttering inaudibly, "Let's just get this over with."

Jennie followed after him, dragging Joey along so she could catch up with Jackie. She didn't want to be left alone with the man now that they had agreed to go around together. Who knew what would happen.

The two couples spent the day in the movies (watched horror- Teá cuddled against Jackie in scary moments while Jennie gripped Joey's hand until it turned purple), the mall (Jennie fell asleep walking and Jackie was overloaded with clothes hand picked by Teá), and finally the fast food restaurant, which Joey, Jackie, and Jennie ran immediately into so Teá wouldn't pick some other godforsaken location.

When everyone got a seat, Joey went off to buy food (everyone cashed in) and Teá went to the bathroom to do girl stuff, giving Jackie and Jennie some alone time.

Jackie leaned back on his chair, eyes half-closed from sleepiness. "My God, this is the most exhausting date I ever went to."

The braided hair girl smiled mischievously, commenting in a sarcastic voice, "You have to admit, though, this date is pretty fun!"

"Yeah, if you like to be pushed, clung to until suffocated, and pulled around for four hours straight!" Jackie scoffed, sitting back up, taking off his glasses to rub his tired face.

Jennie laughed out loud. For a few moments, the situation seemed to be a bit lighter. Even Jackie was able to crack a smile at the girl's cheerfulness. After that faded, however, the atmosphere grew bored and weary once more.

"Have any idea in how you're going to break the news to Teá?" Jennie asked.

Jackie lifted an eyebrow. "What news?"

"That you came from an alternate dimension and that she's a total friendship freak?"

"You make it sound so easy. What about you? What are you going to say to Joey?"

"Tell him that I don't like him."

Jackie smiled dourly. "Again you make it sound so easy."

"It is easy, you numskull!" Jennie snapped, kicking the hacker boy under the table.

A few minutes later, Teá came back and sat beside Jackie, chatting with the two of them. In the middle of it, though, Jennie felt the Exodia deck inside her pocket flash and spit out sparks.

Her eyes grew wide as she heard Joey's voice yell out, "Hey, dude! Why'd you knock that guy out-"

Screams started as a crash trembled the floor. Jackie and Jennie stood up as Teá cried out Joey's name. They all saw a tall black clad man standing over an unconscious Joey as the other bystanders hid behind tables or counters. He held out a small switch knife and pointed it at Jackie and Jennie. A dark black aura swirled around him for those who could see it.

"It seems like we have another nice visitor from the shadows," Jennie commented, almost looking bored. Cocking her head, she wondered in what Erica was doing now…

* * *

Erica wearily walked down the stairs after she fed the Kaibas. For some reason, she felt nervous and scared. Was this feeling linked to her two friends? 

'Nonsense. I bet they're having a good ole time,' Erica smiled, but this did not soothe her anxious senses. Feeling that it was high time to get tea to comfort herself, she walked to the kitchen.

When she arrived there, she saw Tien-Xiang reading the newspaper on the table. Quietly, Erica brew herself green tea and sat across from him, reading the articles upside down. After a few seconds, Tien-Xiang looked up and folded the newspaper.

"What do you want?" he sighed.

Erica didn't answer right away, but asked slowly, "How do you think we'll live through this adventure? How can we? What if…we…we die? What will happen to us after that?"

Tien scratched his head. "Do you want me to be blunt or assure you that everything is going to come out alright?"

Erica laughed and replied, "Blunt, please."

"Alright, now. Where should I start…?" Tien-Xiang's eyes dimmed. "When I first came here, I asked exactly the same questions that you asked me. How will I survive? What if I die? Would I come back home or would I just not exist? I guess the idea that being stuck in this world was good enough to force me to find a way out of this place…But sometimes being alone in a situation that you know isn't real can be discouraging and can make you think that death is easier. I have learned, and you must remember, that you are never alone and can always find help in the strangest places. That is where you can set your hopes and perhaps that is where you can get out at the end of the tunnel."

Erica stared at the man before her and smiled again. "And we're your hope, aren't we?"

"Yes, you three most definitely are."

* * *

Jennie swiftly ducked as the man in black slashed his knife above her. With a furious yell, she did a roundhouse kick that bashed against the man's ribs and pushed him to the tiled floor with a back kick a second later. 

Backing away from the flailing knife's range, she went into her stance and remarked, "I learned that from Tae Kwon Do class!"

When the male began to stand up once more, Jackie snuck up behind him and bashed his head in with a food tray. The blade that the man held spun under a table as he fainted dead away.

"And I just made that up!" Jackie continued after.

As Teá quickly ran over to Joey to see if he was alright, people came out of their hiding places and cheered when they saw the duo tie the unconscious man up with rope from the broom closet. After telling someone to call the police, Jackie and Jennie walked over to Joey and Teá.

Jennie beamed at the hacker boy and said, "My fighting skills rock!"

"And so does my pick pocketing skills," Jackie whispered, holding up a familiar black card.

Jennie pretended not to notice as she asked Teá and Joey if they were all right. Teá nodded and winced at Joey's random cursing and swearing that he'd beat up the punk who knocked him out.

Jennie grinned wickedly. "Sorry, Mr. Blonde, but we already did!"

Joey gawked at the braided hair girl in disbelief and even more so with Jackie.

"Hey!" the hacker boy snapped, pulse popping out. "Even if I'm a computer geek, that doesn't mean I can't fight! SO STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!"

The other three started to snicker and then laughed out loud. Jackie just rolled his eyes in defeat. Sometimes things were better left alone.

The police came a while later and took away the black dressed man. Teá and Joey left the restaurant with other customers, but Jackie held Jennie back.

In a serious voice, he said, "I'm certain that that was one of the Shadow Realm minions."

"Yeah, I know." Jennie nodded gravely. "But why didn't it use any special powers? It only attacked with a flimsy pocket knife."

"Maybe it's because the Realm needs to conserve its power since it lost so much by attacking us, but I didn't realize it needed it this much. Wait, maybe there's a purpose to all thi-"

Jackie was interrupted by shocked shouts outside. When the two went through the doors, they saw a police man holding empty handcuffs as the other officers ran around, yelling about a missing person. Jennie spotted Joey and Teá and as they ran over to them, the braided hair girl asked what had happened.

"I don't know, but that man that attacked Joey literally vanished into thin air!" Teá replied, shocked herself.

Jennie and Jackie gave each other a look and both dragged their "dates" away from the scene. At the moment, running away from where the Shadow Realm was seen last was the best thing that the duo could do.

* * *

"Huh. You're awake," Erica observed, holding a cup of tea. She gave it to Seto and he drank it in small, cautious sips. She sat at the edge of the king-sized bed, next to Kaiba and watched him finish his drink. 

"What happened?" he said groggily, holding his head. "Why am I here? Where's Mokuba?"

The girl answered back, "You got attacked by the Shadow Realm, was used as a human battery for it, and your bro is right next to you."

Seto looked sideways and seemed to relax a bit when he saw the raven-haired boy beside him. Then he gazed back at Erica, face skeptical. "You're joking, right? I mean, about the Shadow Realm."

"Sue me if I am."

"Ugh. Tell me what really happened. I don't believe in that foolish mockery."

Erica sighed, knowing that Kaiba wouldn't accept the truth. "A mafia group snuck in sleeping gas to make everyone in the house fall asleep, took over your home, my friends and I rescued you, and now your house is temporarily off limits by the enemy. Good enough for you?"

Kaiba gave a mean glare in response. The girl calmly looked back at him.

"You know, I've missed that look ever since you stayed unconscious in this bed," Erica said casually.

With a surprised blink, the man looked away and turned red. "Hah! You missed my death glare?"

"I already said that, didn't I?"

Seto took a peek at Erica's face again and blushed an even deeper shade of red when she still had that serious look.

"Stop looking at me like that!" Kaiba shouted.

The dark brown-haired girl raised an eyebrow and puzzled over in why her patient was so red. "Do you have a fever?"

"No!"

"Then why are you all red?"

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are."

"I think I should know if I'm blushing or not!"

"Well, you are blushing!"

"I'm NOT!"

With a pause, Erica noticed that during their argument, she and Kaiba had gotten close…very close. When Seto took note of this, too, he backed away to the headboard, nervous that Erica had realized something weird about his reaction. After a few minutes, Erica smirked and had a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Oh, I get it," she said, laughing impishly.

Seto stammered, "G-get what?"

"You like Jennie, don't you?"

"WHAT! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT!"

"See, see! You **do** like her!"

"No!"

"You're rejecting it, so you doooo like her!"

"NO!"

"Yes, you doooo!"

"ARE YOU STUPID?"

"Seto and Jennie sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S—"

"I DON'T LIKE HER!"

"Oh? Then who?"

"WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU?"

"See! You do like someone and that someone is Jennie!"

"UGH! I don't like that idiotic girl!"

"Then tell me who you like!"

"NO ONE!"

"LIAR!"

Seto glared at the smiling female and growled, "Of all the people in the world, never would I choose her!"

Erica frowned in thought. Counting off several people, she started, "You like Teá?"

"No."

"Laurie?"

"No."

"Yumiko?"

"Who the hell is she?"

"Then who…"

"FOR GOD'S SAKES, DON'T YOU SEE?"

Erica grew wide-eyes and put her face in front of Kaiba's. "YOU'RE GAY!"

"NO!"

* * *

Jackie sat down on a park bench and watched Jennie walk away with Joey to some place in the trees. They both agreed to get this tiresome thing over with. 

Facing Teá, he said in a serious tone, "Look, I just want you to know that I had a…um…great…time."

Teá reddened and looked admiringly at her knight in shining armor. He was so brave and handsome when he was fighting that mysterious man. The way his black hair floated when he dodged the black clothed man's moves and the way his eyes glittered in the fluorescent lights when he anticipated his enemy's attacks. He was witty, too, when he ended the fight and completed Jennie's sentence. What more could a girl ask for in a guy as great as Jackie?

"…And I want to do this again. Really, I do! But…as friends." Jackie finished quietly.

Rudely shattering her day dreams, Teá's happy face faded with a hurt expression.

"Well…you know. I never did exactly 'like-like' you and never intended to date you either…so…we're still friends, right?"

Unfortunately, that was a bad explanation because Teá started to cry, while blubbering loudly, "You don't like me because I'm not like Jennie or Erica, right? You want someone like them than plain old girly me that can't even kick butt!"

"Yes! I mean, no, I mean…uh…."

Teá cried even louder and people in the park started to stare.

Jackie panicked and said, "Don't cry! We're still friends…ah, dammit!"

Scratching his head, he wondered if Jennie was faring any better than he was.

* * *

"Well, Joey, I just want to be blunt, so I'm going to say—" Jennie started, but Joey held a finger up and took a deep breath. 

"I know what you're gonna say," the blonde interrupted, "but after today, I figured out somethin'."

The girl cautiously moved away from the blond boy. "Something about what?"

"That even though you're cool and stuff, I've figured out that we've best be friends and not boyfriend and girlfriend."

"So…you're breaking up with me?"

"Uh…yeah."

Jennie was silent for a while, face blank. To people who didn't know her, she seemed shocked, but in fact she was thinking. Finally a ghost of a smile went on her face as Jennie said angrily, "So that's it? Only one day and that's it? You should have made up your mind whether or not to date me in the first place! Stupid dog!"

Then she ran off, leaving Joey confused and gaping at the speeding braided hair girl.

'What the hell is going on?' Joey wondered. 'Girls are so complicated!'

* * *

"No, I'm NOT gay, NO, I'm not cynical-well, maybe a bit-, and no, I DO NOT LIKE ANY OF THOSE PEOPLE!" Kaiba yelled. 

Erica still had that foolish smile on her face and poked, "I know you like someone! You can't hide it from meee!"

In pure frustration, Kaiba grabbed the girl's arms. "FINE! You really want to know who I like?"

Erica nodded eagerly. Kaiba closed his eyes and held the girl tightly as he began his speech. What he didn't know was that her attention was suddenly distracted as she gazed out of the balcony window.

"I wanted to tell you this for sometime, so listen!" Kaiba said softly. "I have admired, been interested, and wanted to be close to you! I like you, okay? I only like you! You, you, you! Understand? YOU!"

Seto opened his blue eyes and looked at Erica in the face. However, she was staring at something else and seemed surprised when she realized Kaiba was looking at her.

Erica blinked and meekly shrugged at Seto's passive expression. "Uh…what? I didn't hear. I was distracted by a really annoying albino at the balcony."

The man released the girl, but had an exasperated and livid look. He looked ready to kill someone. Then a quick movement at the side of his eyes took hold of him and burned with fire at what he saw. That blasted Bakura had somehow gotten through the balcony door and was happily squeezing an irritated Erica.

"Greetings, my love!" Bakura cooed happily, kissing Erica on the cheek.

The dark brown haired girl rubbed his kiss off her cheek and hissed, "What makes you think that I won't kill you right now, Yami?"

"Because I'm in the body of sweet and naive Ryou!"

"Damn you."

Finally, the yami noticed that Seto was awake and was glaring at him such ferocity, it made him flinch. Bakura hugged the dark haired girl closer to him.

Seto got up from bed and commanded in a voice dripping with acid, "Get away from her. Right. Now."

Bakura jutted his jaw out defiantly. "Why should I?"

Abruptly, Kaiba lashed out at Bakura's head, making him release Erica. She quickly walked off and sat next to Mokuba, who was still sleeping. Now, the two men started to curse and fight with each other in ways and languages that was crude beyond recognition. With all the yelling and noise, this woke the little boy next to Erica.

"Where am I?" Mokuba asked. He yawned as he got up.

Erica smiled and pat the boy on the head. "You're in my house since yours is surrounded by mafia people. Ignore the two stooges over there."

The raven-haired boy looked at his brother and Bakura. They were still calling each other names.

"They act like children…" he drifted.

"I agree." Erica sighed. "Let's go downstairs and get something to eat. After that, let's play some chess games."

Erica pushed the little Mokuba out the door and closed it gently, so the sparring duel masters wouldn't notice their disappearance. Having those two in the same room gave her a headache!

* * *

When Jackie met up with Jennie shortly after their "break-ups," he found her laughing uncontrollably. 

"What the...What's so funny?" he inquired.

Jennie sputtered out, "I…I acted like I was…was upset with Joey for breaking—"

The girl broke out in laughter again.

The boy crossed his arms and in amusement he said, "And when you saw Joey's face, he gave you a look of sheer shock, not believing that you would be so upset over his speech, right?"

The girl nodded and looked up at her friend, still giggling. "How did yours come out?"

"Bad. Teá started crying and ran off to who knows where," he shrugged.

"Jeez, what'd you say?"

"Don't give me that look! I said that I rather have her as a friend!"

"Oh. I just thought you were acting as your usual ruthless self."

Jackie shot a glare at Jennie, but she simply smirked and ran up the hill to their home. With an angry huff, Jackie followed.

By the time they got to the mansion and entered, the duo saw Erica playing chess with Mokuba and Tien-Xiang reading a book nearby. Upstairs, there were various disconcerting noises.

"Um…What's up?" Jennie greeted, plopping down next to Erica and Mokuba.

Jackie went upstairs, but five seconds later, he rushed back down with a confused face. "What the hell are those two doing?"

Erica moved her pawn and answered leisurely, "The two are trying to figure out who the alpha male is."

"They're acting like complete idiots!" Jackie commented, cringing at the sound of breaking glass.

Then Jennie pulled Jackie away by the arm just in time when Seto raced down the stairs and jumped over the railing, landing in where Jackie was. Bakura ran down as well and now the noise was brought to where everyone was.

"Damn albino! You are nothing, but a cockroach compared to me! Just a measly thing that won't back off!" Kaiba bellowed.

Bakura's eyes glimmered dangerously. "Oh, really? I could easily send you to the Shadow Realm for all your jabberings!"

"Hah! Shadow Realm? There is no such thing!"

"Oh? Then should I send you there myself?"

The yami's millennium necklace glowed slightly and the familiar cold draft swung around the room. Alarmed, Tien-Xiang got up, but Erica scolded, "Go home, Bakura! I don't want Seto to end up close to death again!"

That seemed to stop Bakura, but he was still growling at the arrogant man across from him. Jackie's uncle warily sat back down.

Jennie then sarcastically said, "Wow, Erica. You taught the yami to stop his evil necklace. Why don't you teach him how to sit, too."

Already aggravated, the dark brown haired girl went back to her chess game and ordered, "Bakura, sit."

Then albino sat.

Jackie had to hide his smile and glanced at Kaiba who was edging toward the kitchen.

'What now?' he thought with tiredness.

Erica slammed down her queen chess piece. "Seto, if you're going to get a pan and **try** to knock Bakura out, then you're asking for a death wish! Not from Bakura, but from me!"

Seto came back and sat angrily onto a nearby armchair. The others just stared. Jennie and Erica rolled their eyes at the same time. Men!

* * *

A/N: I AM DONE! Jesus Christ, I typed this whole thing in one day. I have a horrible headache, hungry (I skipped dinner just to finish this), and my fingers are cramping. The only reason why I'm not dead at the moment is because I may never have another chance this month to type up another chapter of this story, so I have to bring up the speed on my super slow typing skills. Uhhhhh….kill me noooooow…. 

Anyway, I'M SUPER HAPPY THAT I GOT SO MANY REVIEWS! I FEEL LOVED! LOVED, LOVED! LOVED LIKE COTTON CANDY ON A CANDY STICK! Ehh…okaaaay…too many computer waves have been sucked into my empty head…

Well, the reviews are: **Skidoodle** you are such a nice person! Your review made me want to continue the next chapter right away, **Hi** shame on you for forgetting to review…, **carolsi13** Erica's driving rocks! You should see her in go carts! She goes crazier than Jennie, **DarkHand27**, **Girl of Games** yay, a new reviewer, **Jennie** who's actually candy-animelover600, and **The Random Cat13666 **another new reviewer!

I got seven reviews! Yay! Soooo, if you guys review quickly and I get at least four reviews, I promise I'll update again this week! If not then…you'll just have to wait until next month. WELL, THANKS TO ALL OF YA'LL AGAIN! SAYONARA!


	17. Chapter 17 New Comrades

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: Can you do the chicken dance?

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 17 – New Comrades

Ultimately, the Kaiba brothers, with their house surrounded by the "mafia," ended up staying at the trio's mansion. Days past and whatever Tien did, he excused Seto and Mokuba from their schools. Jackie, Jennie, and Erica continued going, though (much to their dismay), and did so until school finally finished. Of course, Teá got over her break-up and when Jennie told Joey the truth, he was fine and everything was casual again.

Unfortunately, when the schools closed for summer vacation, there was rain every other day and when there wasn't, it was too cloudy and dark. It also seemed as if autumn had come early, even it was still early summer. The days grew colder and it seemed like daylight wanted to end quickly. Something was about to happen…

So, our three heroes waited for sunlight when they would be finally able to challenge the Shadow Realm…

But the trio was definitely in no rush for that. The Shadow Realm could wait, at least for awhile.

* * *

"Aw, man!" Jackie moaned. "My exam scores sucks! I failed in Kanji class and history!"

Apparently, the high school scores came and after fighting for whose envelopes their grades held, scrambling to see who did worse by snatching each other's grades, and chasing each other around in the mansion, the three teens eventually settled into Erica's room, contemplating on their less than perfect grades.

Jennie agreed with Jackie's depressed comment and crumpled up her test grades. "My English almost went below the passing grade!"

"My science grade _is_ below the average grade…. Good thing my mom isn't here," Erica added, picking up another envelope from their high school.

The braided-haired girl threw her scores into the waste basket and saw Erica twirling the remaining school report. She caught the name "Seto Kaiba" on it.

"Gimme!" Jennie yelled as she snatched the envelope away from Erica's hands after tackling her to the ground.

When the dark brown-haired girl tried to get the report back, Jackie cleverly shoved a comic book in front of her face and she immediately grabbed it, reading it and forgetting all about Seto's report card. Then Jackie moved over to Jennie and looked over her shoulder. All of Kaiba's grades were perfect…except…

The two teens laughed their heads off as Kaiba's grades floated to the ground. Erica, irritated that she was already disturbed from the hacker boy's manga, picked up the test scores and looked through it. At exactly the same time, Seto entered the room, about to lecture how the three were disturbing his work. Then his eyes fell on the suffocating boy and girl and Erica, her eyes slowly getting bigger and bigger. After that, he saw her holding his exam scores from the day's mail.

Turning red, he snatched his grades away from Erica, but when he did, the girl looked at Seto. Suddenly she smiled from ear to ear.

"You failed in Home Economics, gym, and Family Life for Health. There was also a note that you had difficulty sewing, taking part in activities in gym, and…_ignoring the valuable lessons of sex education and 'Where Babies Come From!'_" the tomboy managed to spit out before collapsing in helpless laughter at Seto's flustered and angry face.

Kaiba yelled (half from frustration, the other half to be heard over the loud laughter), "Men do not sew, I rather spend my physical education time for business matters, and…and…STOP LAUGHING!"

Jennie and the other two stuffed their fists into their mouths and shook with silent merriment. Erica had a case of giggles, snorts and all.

Kaiba continued to seethe and Jackie pat Seto with mock sympathy. "We understand, Seto. You just don't wanna know where you came from!"

Jennie poked, "Yeah, and you're too high and mighty for poor sewing, you big baby!"

Then Erica embraced Seto like how one would do for a little kid. "Poor, poor Seto. Just remember to wear a condom at all times, dear. "

If it was possible, smoke would have erupted from Kaiba's ears as he bellowed, "STOP MOCKING ME!"

The three sprinted out of the room, cackling loudly. Then Jennie said something clever and everyone screamed with glee again. Seto kicked the wall in frustration and went back to his room. How in the world was he supposed to live here, nevertheless survive, if those three made it so intolerable!

* * *

The trio talked on the way downstairs and when the doorbell rang, Jennie and Erica took off automatically, competing in who would get to answer the door first. Jackie just shook his head at their immaturity.

Three seconds later, Jennie opened the door while Erica was on the floor nearby, panting heavily. Jackie came down soon after and all three teenagers had a surprised expression when they saw the yamis of Yu-Gi-Oh on their doorstep; Malik, Isis, Bakura, and Yugi.

"Um…hello," Jennie, Jackie, and Erica chorused, puzzled in why the yamis were there. "What's going on?"

Yami Bakura shrugged with languor as Yugi and the other two piled into the living room. Erica went off to make tea for the guests, leaving her friends behind.

"Uh…why are you guys here?" Jennie repeated from before, blunt and to the point.

Yami Bakura said seriously, "Malik and Isis came on their own, sensing some kind of danger in Domino City. I just dragged Yugi here since we might need him also. Basically, I brought them here."

Jackie said, "Yeah, but that doesn't answer _why_."

Yugi answered, in his usual timid voice, "Bakura said that you three needed our help of some kind. I don't know what, though."

Malik and Isis nodded in agreement. When Jackie looked at Bakura with curiosity, he had his careless look that said, 'I just brought them here. You explain.'

The boy glanced at Jennie who conveniently stole a look at him, too. Getting the clue, the two excused themselves and ran to the kitchen, almost tripping on the way.

"Erica, Erica! B.K. got the yamis to help out in our quest!" Jennie exclaimed when the two got to their tea-making friend.

Erica almost dropped the cup she was holding and hissed, "I don't know whether to feel relieved or kill that stupid yami!"

Jackie shrugged. "Why? I think it's pretty good. We need all the help we can get."

"Yeah, but it'll end up with them asking how we got our cards and where we came from and how we knew about the Shadow Realm and-" Jennie ranted, but Erica coughed for her to stop.

"Yeah, well, B.K. didn't ask about all that stuff!" Jackie argued.

"Becauuuuse," Jennie said with sarcasm, "we practically told him who we really are! I think the albino can think up the rest of the story!"

Erica pointed out, "But Bakura didn't tell the other three about what happened…yet. He seems to be loyal enough."

Jackie frowned. "Yeah, but let's get back to the problem: should we let the yamis help us and tell them about our whole ordeal?"

Jennie helped Erica take out cups as all three discussed some more. Finally, after three minutes, they all sighed and agreed to tell. What choice did they have and what can they explain if they said no?

When the trio went back to the living room, they spotted the yamis having a discussion of their own. It seemed like Yugi and the others were trying to force information out of Yami Bakura. Fortunately, his mouth was rock-glued and stapled. When Jackie, Jennie, and Erica sat down, the four guests turned their attention to them.

"Well?" Bakura egged on, obviously intent on getting his companions' attention away from him.

With another sigh, the trio explained their whole story with the exception of where they came from and some embarrassing issues (such as topics like where they got their cards). Of course, the yami albino knew what the trio was doing, but kept an amused silence.

After one hour and a half, the trio finished their tale, answered all the questions as truthfully as they could, and the only thing left was if Yugi, Malik, and Isis would join them. Yugi immediately agreed, but the tomb keepers were a bit reluctant.

"How do we know that you are not the villains themselves?' Isis asked.

Erica rolled her eyes and said, "If we were, you would be all dead by now and why would we want to take over Seto's house if we have no special powers or purpose whatsoever? Anyway, you and Malik aren't really yamis. Why are you here?"

"We have some valuable knowledge about the Realm and still have powers, though without out yamis," Malik said coolly.

The dark brown haired girl gave the Egyptian boy a scowl, but the conversation continued on.

"So…" Jackie drifted, "You will join forces with us, right?"

"To save the world," Yugi said, who suddenly transformed into Yami, "most certaintly."

Isis and Malik nodded. "If our pharaoh agrees, then we must, too."

The trio gave a cough that strangely sounded like a snicker, Bakura smirked, and Yami looked uncomfortable at this sudden declaration of loyalty.

"Well, then. We have to make plans with our chief, and guardian, Tien-Xiang. Right now he's at the museum, so, till then, stay or go back home and come back around...six o'clock p.m." Jennie noted, looking at her watch.

Isis told everyone that she had to leave to take care of a few hotel arrangements, but the rest of the guests (much to everyone's dismay) stayed. Right after Isis went out of the driveway, all hell broke loose.

Erica and Malik swore war against each other and it was difficult to keep them apart from biting each other's heads off. At the same time, Bakura kept poking "fun" at his crush and Jennie chased him around the room so she could kill him for his pervertiveness. The only calm, but slightly startled, ones were Jackie and Yugi…until, of course, Kaiba came down the stairs to get coffee.

Kaiba immediately went into "challenge-Yugi-into-duel" mode and when he spotted Bakura in the room, it only made him angrier. Jackie, in the meantime, blew out a weary breath and went down to the garage to get a special item. By the time he came back up, Jennie was choking Yami Bakura, Seto was holding Yugi by the back of his shirt (he attempted to run away) and snapping at the albino, and Erica and Malik were trying to knock each other out with the pillows from the sofa. Suddenly tired, the hacker-boy took out the item he was looking for and covered one of his ears with his free hand. Counting to three, Jackie pressed hard on the release button.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

Immediately there was total silence (except for pained yells) as everyone stared at the bullhorn that Jackie held up. The insanely loud and annoying belch of the thing was still echoing in the air.

After a few seconds, Erica snapped, "You made me deaf, you retard!"

The others were trying to unclog their tortured ears.

"Now," Jackie said calmly, "if Malik and you, Erica, want to fight, play the video games. If Seto and Yugi want to fight, play chess. If you, Jennie, and Bakura want to fight, join in the same game as Erica and Malik. Got it?"

Everyone exchanged puzzled looks and shook their heads. Jackie explained three more times, but each time, the other five continued to look confused and frustrated.

Finally annoyed, the boy yelled, shaking the windows, "OH, COME ON! YOU CAN'T REALLY BE DEAF, YOU SADISTS!"

Apparently, everyone heard this comment, since they shouted back, "WE ARE DEAF!"

Slapping his forehead, Jackie mimed in what everyone should do. Though this took much longer than his word explanation, everyone understood. Erica, Jennie, Bakura, and Malik played a racing game while Jackie forced Yugi to play chess with Seto. There was peace…with the exception of some explosion sounds from the T.V.

* * *

Just for time to pass by quickly, everyone regained their hearing abilities, continued to play the racing game (Jennie kept winning…), Isis and Tien-Xiang came back at six with Mokuba (Tien had brought the boy to the museum to see a new exhibit), discussed some plans, and made up the meeting place when it was time to fight the Shadow Realm. At last, everyone was about to leave.

"Bye, Isis, Yugi!" Erica waved, completely ignoring Malik and Bakura.

The two nodded and everyone inside the house said goodbye (except for Seto). Not surprisingly, Bakura had to make a scene when he kissed Erica goodbye on the lips, making Seto seethe, Jennie and Mokuba laugh, and Tien and Jackie holding the rabid Erica away from the albino. Malik smirked at Erica's misfortune and quickly ran away when she started to aim her random kicks at him. Isis sighed and followed after her brother. Bakura left a few seconds after that.

Closing the door with a slam, both Erica and Kaiba screamed, "I'm going to kill that damn albino!"

The two gave surprised stares at each other.

Everyone else laughed and scattered to different directions when the girl and Seto tried to tackle at least one of them. The scenes of a happy family…

Sorta.

* * *

A/N: Yay! I am doooooone! Well, I know this wasn't a funny chapter and all, but it was important since our heroes couldn't go against the Realm with only Tien and Bakura to help, and having help from others was essential.

Anyway, I'm sorry if the Malik and Isis thing was a bit random and I made Malik, perhaps, out of character. I never watched most of the Yu-Gi-Oh episodes with the God Cards arc and I only saw freaky Yami Marik being all crazy and all, so I never knew how the real Malik acted like. Speaking of Marik and Malik…Did I get those names right? Is Malik the real guy, not the yami? I always get those two confused…I really hope I didn't make a mistake in their names...

Bah. Whatever.

Anyhow, HERE ARE THE REVIEWERS! W00T!

**Isis the Spinx** (new reviewer!), **DarkHand27**, and **fairy'smaiden**…

Dude…what happened? Did the rest of you reviewers decide to die or something? Oi… Anyway, I'm still happy I'm getting reviews, so I know I still matter to some people who are kind enough to let me know how they feel about my fanfiction. Well, better get started on the next chapter. I'll let you guys in a clue…

It's Jackie's birthday.

Sooooo, review as usual, people, and, though 75 percent of you won't answer this…

Who is your favorite character? Jackie, Jennie, or Erica? It would be interesting to see who has the most fans.

Well, CAOI!


	18. Chapter 18 Jackie's Birthday

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: Flamingos will rule the world.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 18 – Jackie's Birthday

Eventually, July passed without a second thought and plans for the Shadow Realm were set, while some typical teenage hanging out was done in the city as well. Then, finally, Jackie's birthday came. Apparently, it wasn't such a normal birthday as one would hope to have.

* * *

When our fellow hacker-boy woke up, it was already a rainy day as always and four gifts were piled on a nearby chair. Already he was disappointed as he remembered that there was no "outsiders" for his birthday. Tien-Xiang was still angry about the fact Jennie's birthday was a complete disaster. Tien didn't even know if his poor mansion could survive another one of the trio's parties.

'Still, it was fun while it lasted,' Jackie reflected. After reading the birthday cards from his uncle, Jennie, Erica, and Mokuba, he went to wash up and get breakfast.

As always, Jackie was the first up in the household so he got dibs on the best foods first. Also, no one would complain that he ate too much and almost emptied the fridge. Hey, he was a growing boy.

Eating on the dining room table, he wondered in what kind of things he would get from his mysterious presents that he had yet to open. A game, maybe? Or maybe Teletubby socks. Yeah, he needed Teletubby socks.

Blinking, Jackie wondered in why he was thinking about **socks**. Picking up the box of butter, he checked the expiration date. Two months late of date. No wonder. Old butter made him stupid…and slightly drunk.

"Oh, screw it." he muttered, putting another layer of butter on his toast. "I don't care if I get high."

After cleaning up, he spent an hour watching the weather channel for any signs of sun. Nope. Cloudy all week. When Jackie turned off the T.V., he silently sat on the sofa, thinking that he loved the quietness of the morning. Now he thought of it, Jackie **would** like a private birthday. Smiling, the hacker-boy started to think of flying cheese...

* * *

Jennie yawned and stretched her arms as she went downstairs in her pajamas. Knowing Jackie, he would probably be up by now. Yawning again, she was about to pass through the living room and into the kitchen, but a quick movement caught her eye. Groggily looking around, she spotted Jackie running around the room, arms out like the wings of a plane, and making engine sounds. He had a pot on his head and a blanket tied around his throat. Shocked out of her sleepiness, the girl stared at her friend veer around like a plane, occasionally stopping to lift the big pot out of his eyes.

Jackie saw Jennie after a few minutes and cracked into a large, insane smile. "Jennie-weenie! Come play! Play!"

He chased after the girl who immediately ran back upstairs.

"Erica! ERICA! Something's wrong with Jackie! He's calling me a weenie!" Jennie shrieked, running through the halls to Erica's room.

The dark-haired girl opened the door, hair messy and rubbing her tired eyes. "…the hell…?"

Abruptly, Jackie flew out of nowhere and tackled Jennie onto the floor with a bear hug.

He yelled cheerfully, "Jennie-weenie! Play, play! Play with Jackie-weenie!"

Jennie didn't respond, obviously unconscious.

"Uh, ohhhh! Jennie-weenie dead!"

A few doors down behind Jackie, the Kaibas opened their doors. Seto grumbled, "What's all this ridiculous noise?"

Mokuba added, "And so early in the morning, too."

Erica stared vacantly at Jackie in his "clothes" and watched his stretch Jennie's cheeks. Seto and Mokuba followed the girl's eyes and stared, too, at Jackie.

"What…WHAT ARE YOU WEARING, FOOL?" Kaiba yelled, thoroughly shocked and wide awake. Mokuba just gawked with his mouth open.

"I'm…can't I…" Jackie whined, eyes big and teary. "I-I'm Superman!"

With exasperation, the blue-eyed man gave Erica a helpless look. However, she just looked bored and sleepy.

"Must've been the butter," she shrugged.

"What butter?" the Kaibas said weakly.

"He has an allergic reaction that makes him babyish for awhile."

"Oh."

"Nappy time," he yawned. Then Jackie curled up on the floor and sucked his thumb, falling asleep, blankets and pots and all.

Kaiba stood next to the hacker-boy. "Any way to reverse this…reaction?"

"Nope." Erica said casually. "Just have to wait it out. In the mean time, take this time wisely. Once he wakes up again, it'll be like taking care of an overgrown infant."

Mokuba and Kaiba looked at Jackie with stone faces.

"Soooo…anyone up for breakfast?" the dark-haired girl volunteered.

* * *

Erica was right. Jackie did act like a big baby. Apparently, Tien-Xiang knew about Jackie's problem and took the excuse of escaping to work, leaving everyone else to deal with the issue.

Jennie was told of Jackie's allergies since she only knew the boy for only three years. Fortunately, this kept her from beating Jackie into a bloody pulp. Unfortunately, Jackie preferred her from anybody else.

So close. So **very** close.

"Get off me, you stupid Neanderthal!" Kaiba bellowed, almost crushed when Jackie jumped on him for a piggy-back ride. Currently, everyone was in the living room, "dealing" with the issue.

Jackie screamed, "NO, NO, NO! Horseys no speak! Horseys ride! GO, GO, GO!"

Mokuba hid behind the couch (because Jackie played a very mean game of tag) and watched his brother being tortured, while Jennie had an ice pack on her head from previous collisions from Baby-Boy. Erica was just looking at a butter box.

Walking up to Jennie, she muttered, "Huh. The moron ate the whole thing."

Jennie moaned. Suddenly, Jackie jumped off the suffocating Kaiba and turned on the T.V.

"Barney!" the boy wonder shrieked, watching the purple dinosaur's theme song start.

Everyone cried out in fear (Erica threw the butter box behind her, hitting Seto in the face) and ran out of the Godforsakened room. Panting in the kitchen, everyone sat down and brainstormed desperately for plans to trap Jackie somehow for the rest of the day. They did this for forty-five minutes until Jackie ran into the kitchen, holding up a huge bag of candy.

"Me found secret food under Jennie's bed! I'm gonna eat it!" he shouted grandly, the pot tipping over his eyes. Then he ran out again.

Jennie stood up suddenly, throwing down her ice pack angrily. "THAT'S IT! I don't care if Jackie's under the power of butter, but that's MY candy! Come back here, you stupid excuse for the word 'man!'"

Jennie rapidly chased after Jackie. Erica ran after her friend, and the Kaibas followed. Somehow, the four got separated and Erica ended up with Seto while Mokuba was with Jennie.

"Damn it! Where is that stupid squid!" Jennie growled, looking around.

Mokuba finally caught up with the girl, breathing heavily. "Why…why do you…like your candy…that much?"

When Jennie went around the corner, she screamed as Jackie almost ran over her, leaving a trail of wrinkled candy wrappers behind him. The girl got up from the floor and held up a small flag with a candy symbol on it.

"I WILL AVENGE YOU, MY FRUIT-FLAVORED CHILDREN!" she shouted, following the wrapper trail.

Mokuba sighed and muttered, "This just gets stranger and stranger."

Meanwhile, Jackie was stalking Erica and Seto, unaware of the trail that he was leaving. Yet, he had a plan to make the two get kicked out of the house. At the moment, he watched Erica look into rooms while Seto warily looked around corners.

When the dark-haired girl sighed hopelessly, Seto looked at her and blushed slightly. What were the chances that he was with her? Suddenly, they both heard a clatter on the first floor. The two gave a nod and ran downstairs.

Jackie snickered, head suddenly empty looking without his metal pot hat. He followed them down and watched as the two puzzled over his pot on the bottom of the stairs.

"Jackie should be around…" Erica murmured, looking up. Then she scurried to the front door and looked out the driveway. Seto followed after her.

"I doubt he'll be out there. If he is, it'll be impossible to track him down now," commented Seto.

Then a creak sound behind them. Kaiba and Erica whirled around. No one was there. The two looked at each other and stepped outside for a better look.

Just when Kaiba was about to go back in, the door closed with a slam and a small click was heard. Viciously, he shook the handle.

Seto bellowed, "That damn boy locked us out!"

Erica raced to the door and started to bang on it. "JACKIE! YOU ARE SOOOO DEAD!

"Now what!" Kaiba seethed.

"Well," the girl started, "let's find another door. Let's try the back one."

* * *

Slowly, Mokuba and Jennie moved toward the boy wonder as they saw him lock the door and windows in actions that seemed aimless. Jackie was humming a nursery song that was completely off tune.

"What is he doing?" the little boy whispered.

"It's probably another one of his pointless tasks in his stupid, small brain," Jennie hissed, still angry that Jackie ate her candy.

Then the boy twirled like a ballerina and hopped off to the living room like a rabbit.

"Okay. When we surround Jackie, we'll jump on him and knock him out," Mokuba said, oblivious to the fact that Jennie was taking a large pan out of her shirt. "On the count of three, we'll-"

"DIEEEEEE!" Jennie cried as she flew to the next room and attacked Jackie.

Mokuba hurried to the living room and saw the rabid girl chase the boy wonder around and around the room.

"STAY STILL, DAMMIT!" Jennie shrieked, swinging her frying pan dangerously around. Jackie just hopped from one place to another, acting like a plane again.

The raven-haired boy exhaled deeply and muttered, heading for his room, "I give up. This'll never end…"

* * *

Erica gave one last futile kick on the last door to the house and shouted with fury, "He locked everything, that butter-high ass!"

Seto slumped onto the ground beside a tree and crossed his arms. "The only thing we can do is for your friends to let us in or Jackie's uncle to come home."

"But Jennie won't stop chasing Jackie until she kills him!"

"I know."

"And Tien-Xiang won't be home until nine!"

"I know!"

"And it's only eight in the morning!"

"I KNOW! I'M NOT STUPID!"

Erica messed up her already messed up hair and plopped down next to Kaiba.

"Sorry, 'bout that. Just got hysterical over there," the girl whispered, looking up at the branches of the tree.

Seto scowled and waved the apology away. "Never mind that. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Erica looked at the man in surprise and smiled warmly. Then she shivered from the rain, huddling into a small ball.

"You alright?" the man asked, concerned.

"Yeah, considering we've been walking in the rain and I'm still in my pajamas," the girl chuckled.

Seto smirked, but it soon vanished when Erica shook from the cold again. Frowning with his eyes looking around for any people, Kaiba sighed with frustration and pulled the dark-haired girl close to him, his arm covering her shoulders.

"W-What the hell are you-" Erica stuttered, starting to turn red.

"Shut up and go to sleep." the man growled in return. "We still have thirteen hours to pass."

The female fidgeted uncomfortably for several minutes and just when Seto was about to snap, she unexpectedly stopped. Seto looked down at the girl and noticed that she was already fast asleep. Giving one of his rare smiles, he leaned his head against the top of hers. Slowly, his eyes drooped and he, too, fell asleep.

* * *

While Erica and Seto slept outside, Jennie continued to chase the butter-high boy, but even that started to get boring. Even for Mokuba, who Jennie saw him sleeping on his bed as she ran past to catch up with Jackie.

Of course, Jennie got tired and eventually collapsed on one of the sofas as the two ended up in the living room again. Jackie, too, who was supposed to be hyper, fell onto the rug, panting.

"Jennie-weenie…bad tagger. Tagger is trying to kill Jackie-weenie," the boy whined, between gasps. His pot disappeared somewhere and his cape was loose.

Jennie snapped, throwing her pan and missing, "STOP CALLING ME THAT, DAMMIT!"

Jackie gave a bored sigh and covered his mouth as he yawned. Then Jennie yawned, too.

"Oh, fudge. You made me sleepy…Now I can't kill…you…" Jennie grumbled before slumping on the sofa. Quite abruptly, her breathing slowed and she was still.

Curious, the boy crept up cautiously and saw that his chaser was completely pooped out and deeply asleep. Relief washed over Jackie, but so did drowsiness. Going on the other end of the sofa Jennie was laying on, he put his head on the hand rest, blinked blearily a few times, and fell into a tired slumber, glasses and all.

* * *

When Tien-Xiang came home at night, he opened the door silently. It was quiet…a little too quiet. Putting his things on the stairs, he crept slowly to the living room.

He almost laughed out loud as he leaned against the doorway frame. Jennie and Jackie were on the same sofa, but Jackie's head was tilting off the couch, while Jennie was practically falling off the furniture. Tien went up to Jennie and shook her gently awake.

"Huh? What? Huh?" she said groggily, sitting up and blinking sleepily.

Then Jackie woke up with a snort, startled out of his sleep by the girl next to him. "What happened? How'd I get here? And…what am I wearing!"

The hacker-boy chucked his "cape" away.

While Tien explained and scolded Jackie in what happened, Jennie remained blank and sleepy. Fortunately, she was not yet into killing mode.

"What time is it?" Jackie muttered, checking the clock. "Oh. 9:45 P.M….WHAT! I SPENT MY WHOLE BIRTHDAY SLEEPING?"

Jennie winced from the noise and noticed the absence of Erica. "Hey…where's the crazy yak?"

The room grew silent as Jennie and Tien-Xiang glared at Jackie.

"What!" the hacker-boy snapped. "I didn't do it! Well…I least I don't think I did…"

After an hour of searching, everyone found Erica and Seto outside, still asleep. Apparently, Erica somehow curled onto Seto's lap and the man himself had his arms around her, his lips just millimeters away from Erica's cheek.

Snickering, Jennie woke the two up and almost immediately, the two teenagers separated to opposite sides of the lawn, both blushing from extreme embarrassment. Until one in the morning did everyone stop teasing Seto and Erica when Seto actually tried to kill Jackie and Erica brought a chainsaw.

In the end, everyone had to sleep and Jackie commented to Jennie that compared to his four presents (an upgrade disc from Mokuba, a watch that could record voices from Erica, a DVD of his favorite anime from Tien-Xiang, and an exploding box from Jennie, scaring the living daylights out of him) the vision of Seto and Erica being in a scene like that was the best. Of course, Erica heard about that and knocked the birthday boy out with Jennie's pan.

Ah, well. Happy Birthday, Jackie.

* * *

A/N: Unfortunately, the real life Jackie doesn't become insane when he eats old butter. He just gets food poisoning like the rest of us do. Damn.

Anyway, hope you had fun reading this side adventure and for all those people confused as to why I described the cold when it was July, it's because the Shadow Realm is being an ass with the weather and messing it up. Blunt, no?

This time, I had SIX reviews! I AM HAPPY! Well, here they are!

**fairy'smaiden** (very funny witticisms), **blackangel04** (yes, I like the cursing, too), **Isis the Sphinx** (thanks for the Marik/Malik name info), **candy-animelover600** (it's nice to know how you're life is going), **DarkHand27** (I will kill you if you don't review this time…), and **ElementalDemoness23** (NEW REVIEWER! YAY!).

Well, thanks for all the love and if you review, I'll give you a chainsaws for a present! YAY!

Another thing…For those who voted on who's their favorite character, the winner is ERICA! I'm kind of surprised really. I thought everyone would like Jennie more since Erica seems more…Mary-Sue-ish. I mean, I like Jennie. She's my favorite chara.


	19. Chapter 19 Reflections

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: Monkeys are cucumbers in disguise.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 19 – Reflections

When Erica woke up in the morning, she thought something was wrong since she was the first one up. As the girl headed downstairs for breakfast, she heard the snores of Jackie's uncle and the fidgeting of Mokuba as he dreamt in his bed.

"So everything is okay…" Erica murmured.

Then she stopped in front of Jennie's room. Gently, she set her hand on the door and thought of everything that had happened so far: the first attack of the Shadow Realm when she had found her cards in the fridge and was chased by a black dragon, the second attack for Jackie when he was forced to fight a monster that could shatter everything with just a touch, the third attack when Jennie had met that crazy man with the candy cane stick, and the other was rescuing the Kaibas from the big boss itself. All had the prospect of them being killed. If they died here, then they would never go home…

Erica's hand that was on Jennie's door turned into a fist. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to risk hers and her friends' lives. But…they had no choice. Slowly, Erica knocked on Jennie's door.

There was no response. Wondering if Jennie was still asleep, the girl opened the door and walked in. To her surprise, Erica found her best friend already awake, out on her balcony, watching the rain fall past the roof she was under. Quietly the dark-haired teen went across the room and stood next to her buddy, watching the rain with her.

"You know," Jennie smirked, glancing at Erica, "I was wondering when you would come in."

The girls shrugged. "Well…A lot's been on my mind lately. It's just overwhelming…"

"I always thought that being in worlds I wanted to be in would be fun, but now…now…" Jennie sat down on the floor, her knees folded to her chest, her arms covering half her face, "now…I know the truth. I don't want to do this again. I'm tired, Erica. I just want to go home."

Erica sighed as she continued to stand, looking out at the dreary world. She wondered if time still continued back at home and if it did, did their parents miss them at all? What about their friends? Or were they forgotten?

"If we die, what will happen to us?" Jennie asked again.

"I don't know. If we're lucky, we might be able to go back home, but with the luck we've been having lately…" Erica drifted off and cocked her head to the side. "I think the real question we have to ask is if all this is really worth it…our lives, I mean."

The braided-hair girl closed her eyes and didn't answer for sometime. Erica patiently waited for her friend's answer, unsure of her own. Finally, Jennie opened her light-brown irises with a slight smile.

She started, almost reminiscing, "When I was in the real world, I always thought Yu-Gi-Oh was babyish, but strangely entertaining as I saw several monsters duke it out on the battle field. I couldn't help it. I was addicted.

"Why did I think Yu-Gi-Oh was babyish? No, duh, the characters on it were so two-dimensional; in other words, stupid. I mean, who shouts out their cards when you play them? Another is that who goes all whoop-de freakin' doo when making a victory? Aaaaand, their hair is not physically possible."

Erica laughed lightly at this, grinning a bit.

"But…" Jennie continued, face falling, "but as I entered this world, I realized that the YGO cast weren't such idiotic morons as I thought they were. Teá doesn't actually say friendship speeches every single second, but is actually pretty brave. Bakura isn't as twisted and massively evil as I first thought and Seto...well, he's still a jackass, but when he's around you, Erica, he's a little bit nicer. Even Joey and Tristan are smarter than they are shown on T.V. Yami and Yugi aren't that bad either. As long as I am here, they still exist and now that these 2-D characters are my good friends, I can't just run away from this problem. If our situation was to be switched with the YGO cast being in our world and having to save us from this impending doom…"

"I think they would try to save us anyway," Erica smiled. Jennie nodded.

There was silence once again, but this time, it was one of comfort and understanding.

Then the amber-eyed teenager stretched happily and set her hand down for her friend to hold as she got up, too.

"Come on," Erica said with a content face, "Let's go find Jackie, so we could bother him about the weather again."

* * *

Jackie winced as he got out of the basement to get some headache medicine. 

'Already into the morning and I have a splitting headache from the damn computers,' the hacker-boy grumbled in his mind.

As the male walked down the hall, he came by the mirror and stopped. When he looked closely at it, he noticed some things he didn't see before when he was in the bathroom. Jackie had slight bags under his eyes, hidden shadows around his face, and the mischievous glint that he had in his eyes were now gone. It was like he had aged ten years. When the boy distanced himself from the mirror, the tired face quickly disappeared. The only difference was that the shine from his eyes were visibly missing.

'I guess I had aged throughout this whole ordeal,' Jackie thought.

Forgetting about his medicine for a few minutes, the hacker-boy leaned against the mirror and looked around him. He was tired. He hated the Shadow Realm for keeping them here. He wanted to go home.

Home.

He had lived in this house for sometime and had gotten used to living close to Domino City and didn't freak out every moment he saw the YGO cast waving at him from a distance. He _liked_ where he lived. Of course, there were the exceptions living with Jennie, Erica, and the Kaiba brothers, but they were his friends-it was natural that they would bother him every single day. In a way, he didn't mind. The two girls and Mokuba were able to drag him away from staring in front of the computers for the whole day and they kept him in check when he decided to sabotage KaibaCorp's mainframe when Seto was being particularly mean that day. The YGO cast also came by their house every once in awhile and everyone would have some fun. There was Tien-Xiang, too; his favorite uncle. No, he didn't only like where he lived, he _loved_ where he lived.

So when the time came to leave this world, would he want to? Which was his real home, anyway?

Jackie pushed himself off the mirror and continued to walk down the hall. Did he really want to go back? He stopped again.

"What am I thinking!" Jackie shouted, smacking his forehead.

Even if he loved living here, home was still home in real world. Jennie, Erica, and Tien-Xiang would come back with him to that place when everything was done. There was his family, too. How could he forget them? He had a little sister, a mom, and a dad back home. They were waiting for him and if he didn't come back, they would feel devastated.

'No, wishing to stay here would be selfish,' Jackie thought. He couldn't stay here just because he wanted to. He had a real life back home, his real home.

But even if he thought that in his mind, why did his heart feel like he was missing something? Oh, yes…Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Teá, Bakura, Seto, and Mokuba.

The boy sighed, "I have friends here, too."

* * *

The two girls found Jackie absentmindedly staring at the computer screen at the basement and took a few yells to make him snap out of his reverie. 

"What's with you?" Jennie said with concern, plopping down on a swivel chair. Erica simple leaned against the computer desk.

Jackie shrugged and muttered, "Oh, nothing. You know, tired."

Erica and Jennie glanced at each other.

The hacker-boy messed up his hair in frustration. "Oh, fine! I was just wondering if any of you are going to miss this place. Did you even feel that you didn't want to go home?"

"Jackie," the amber-eyed female explained, "at some point in our lives, there are times when we don't want to go home. Even right now, Jennie and I know we're going to miss this place because of the friends we made, but that's not going to stop us. Home is still home. We all knew that we were going to leave this place, leaving the YGO cast behind in their world. We just have to accept that."

Jennie added, "It won't be the same, though. Watching Yu-Gi-Oh back at home…on the T.V….It just seems too surreal. We'll probably turn off the T.V. and wait for thirty minutes to pass."

"Yeah, nostalgia'll probably kill us if we watch it," Jackie grinned ruefully.

"Well…at least we'll feel bad together!" Erica said cheerfully.

Jennie snorted as she said sarcastically, "Oh, that's sooo nice! Crying our eyes out together will make me feel SO much better!"

Jackie laughed, feeling more energized than before. "But it'll still be nice being together and all."

Erica and Jennie grinned and scooted over to what Jackie was looking at before the two girls came in. As Jackie explained that he had just gone on this weather website for Domino City, the amber-eyed girl looked at her two best friends, talking calmly to each other.

'We really have changed,' Erica thought with kind eyes. Jennie had gotten more mature and possibly more sensible. Jackie was a little more tolerant toward other people, not the hermit he was before. As for herself...well, she couldn't really judge herself, could she?

Jennie glanced at Erica. "Hey, you admiring our faces or something?"

The dark-haired girl shook her head and looked back at the computer screen. "No, it's nothing. I was just thinking. So, Jackie, anything interesting?"

"Well, our battle with the Shadow Realm might come faster than I thought." Jackie frowned. "Look here."

With that, he gave out different newspapers and opened different weather websites on the several computers that were in the room. Erica and Jennie looked through all of them and exchanged newspapers.

"Okaaaay…We have a lot of weather reports. So what?" Jennie inquired.

Jackie replied, "They ALL say that it's going to be sunny tomorrow."

There was silence as the two girls looked at the weather reports with new eyes.

Erica's eyes widened. With an amazed voice, she exclaimed, "Then we can take on the Shadow Realm tomorrow! It'll be weaker than normal so we can get in easy!"

"Do you really think we can do this?" the braided-haired girl whispered, voice hoarse from sudden fear.

Erica smiled. "I know this sounds really corny and stupid and Teá-like, but as long as we're together…"

"…We'll always pull through," Jackie completed with a determined nod.

Jennie looked at the newspaper in her hand. Suddenly, she threw it behind her, ran past her two friends, and rushed out the door.

Her voice echoed in the halls, "The last one to the kitchen has to eat moldy bread with sour milk for breakfast!"

The hacker-boy and the amber-eyed girl gave each other a look and started to sprint out the basement door, too, pushing each other to get first. As they caught up with Jennie, the trio laughed, faces happy and strong.

…_As long as we're together, we'll always pull through_…

* * *

Somewhere else, in the rain, a man stood in front of the gate of the Kaiba mansion, unafraid of the pulsing dark aura that only a few people could see. He held an umbrella above his head, his face hidden in the shadows of it. 

"You will fail." the man said with chilling calmness. The dark aura seemed to pulse even faster as if it was offended by his comment. "All those I summon will…but that's alright. In the end, I will be the only one standing."

Then the man turned and disappeared into the rain, the droplets erasing his existence.

* * *

A/N: I know by now that my apologies for updating late are meaningless now, but still…I'M SO SORRY! 

The reason why I took such a long time updating this time is because one, I really looooove procrastinating, two, teachers loooooooved giving me homework, and three is because I had to revise this whole chapter because it was so messed up in so many ways…AND I had to type it up. Yeeeeeah…

Also, I would like to mention that this story has already been written and finished so I will not be accepting any advice on the chapters besides grammer and spelling mistakes. Don't get it wrong-I really love all of your advice and I wish I could use them to change the story and make it better, but I don't think I have the willpower to change the whole story…again.

Thirdly, in my things to tell you, is that this story is drawing to a close and I'll be starting Prophecy Beta right after this story has ended. Yes, there's Prophecy Beta. Soooo, if you would like to continue the series until the very end, I highly recommend you to refresh or learn about the basic plot and characters in **Cardcaptor Sakura**. If you don't want to, then…just forget about the Prophecy Beta and Gamma.

Now, lastly, are my lovely reviewers and some new ones that I'm very happy to introduce. They are: **Isis the Spinx**, **blackangel04**, **Sora-777**, **Skidoodle-Snickerdoodle** (your name is awesome!), **ElementalDemoness23**, **fairy'smaiden**, **candy-animelover600**, and **Akari** **Ishtaru** (who updated three times! W00T!).

Alrighty, now! Since it's summer, expect new updates every week on Monday (YAY!) aaaaand have some awesome dog days while you're waiting for your other stories and mine on Sayonara!


	20. Chapter 20 The Vines of Seth

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: Monkeys are cucumbers in disguise.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 20 – The Vines of Seth

The day had finally come and the plan was clear. Jackie, Tien-Xiang, and Seto Kaiba would stay at home planning the hacking into Seto's house through the computers. Once they got the gates open to Kaiba's mansion, Jennie, Malik, and Bakura would be Team 1 (Erica insisted for Bakura to go on Jennie's team), and Erica, Yugi, and Isis would be Team 2. Team 1 would reach the front of the house to create a diversion and Team 2 would go through a secret door to get inside the house. Then Team 1 would defeat the enemies at the front and go through that way. All would have communicators to contact each other and each was given a watch for how much daylight hours were left. The sun was shining brightly with no clouds at all. Now they were ready.

"I'm nervous," Erica bluntly stated when the two teams reached the gate.

Jennie said sarcastically, "We're very happy to be here and potentially walk to our doom. OF COURSE YOU'RE NERVOUS!"

Jackie's laugh frizzled in the earpieces. "You're all _scared_. Not nervous."

"WELL, YOU'RE NOT HERE!" Jennie and Erica shrieked, causing everyone to wince at the sudden screaming in their earphones.

Tien, Jackie, and Seto, meanwhile, were half deaf since they cranked up the volume to hear everyone's voice.

"DON'T DO THAT!" Jackie yelled back, voice indignant.

Erica ignored the little voice and looked beyond the gates. There was fog, but it was very weak.

"Are you ready?" Isis said, standing next to Erica.

Jackie muttered nothings irritably and the gates creaked open.

"Go Jackie!" Jennie cheered. Then she ran in quickly, the rest of her team following her.

"Good luck!" Yugi called out. Jennie waved as she faded into the fog.

After Jennie, Isis walked into the white sheet. Taking a deep breath, Yugi turned into Yami and he and Erica followed Isis into the fog.

Team 2 walked in the cool mist for awhile until a familiar sizzle buzzed and Jennie's voice arose, though a bit unclear.

"Okay. The purple thingy that we saw the first time we came here is distracted and Malik said the Shadow Realm's attention is on us." Jennie whispered. "It's your cue to go through the back."

Bakura cut in, "Yes, but the Realm is also looking for you and Jackie. Apparently, Lu is at home. You, Erica, are not."

Yami, Isis, and Erica started to jog and the amber-eyed girl said ironically, "Oh, thanks for your concern! I feel sooo loved!"

Tien-Xiang beeped in, "Just be careful. We're in the enemy's territory. Remember that."

The connection cut off and Team 2 reached the hidden doorway that Seto had told them about.

* * *

Jennie's team, in the meantime, conquered the purple gooey monster easily and was running through the halls, trying to find the center of the mansion. The Shadow Realm's heart was thought to be there.

The group stopped to take a breather and contacted Kaiba if they were any closer to the center.

"No, you still need to go a little more. Also, get a move on. The others are almost at their destination," Seto said.

Bakura snapped, "We're trying to, you simpleton!"

The connection was cut off in response.

"Wow, Bakura. Great social skills!" Jennie said, scoffing.

The albino replied smoothly, "The only time I use my charm is on Erica. Not on that arrogant bastard."

Malik snickered. Rolling her eyes, Jennie contacted her friend. With a beep, Erica said that they were nearing the Shadow Realm. Closing the connection, Jennie started to sprint with the other two running after her.

* * *

Erica slowed down and shivered. Something about this whole no-going-into-a-trap thing wasn't right. From all her experience from watching Yu-Gi-Oh and the time when the she, Jennie, and Jackie rescued the Kaibas, the Realm wasn't this…safe. Not that she was complaining, of course. Running was really nice with no traps around, but…Seto's secret door couldn't have been that secret. They were already in the main halls for Ra's sake!

Apparently, Yami and Isis felt the same way when they, too, stopped running a little after Erica had stopped. Looking around warily, Yami nodded at Erica. With another shiver, she walked forward to the two.

"This is strange. The Shadow Realm is not responding," the yami said with worry.

Isis agreed. "Yes, it is almost never like this…unless…"

"It's a trap," Erica continued grimly.

"Yes," Yami said, "but kind of trap is it?"

The dark-haired girl walked a little forward from the still group and looked around the walls and ceilings. As she wrapped her jacket closer around her body, she wondered why the atmosphere was so cold. Then she felt something brush her ankle.

Reluctantly, Erica looked down.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

Jackie jerked off his chair when Erica's shriek pierced the basement room. When he got up, he also saw that Seto and his uncle were covering their ears.

"What…was that…?" Tien-Xiang said weakly. He almost had a heart attack.

Kaiba looked at his computer and saw three green dots going back from where they came quickly. "Erica's group is running away!"

Suddenly alarmed, Jackie went to open up the camera in Erica's headphones. The problem was…

"The camera's not working," Jackie said bluntly.

"What!" Seto and Tien yelled. Desperately, they tried to contact the others to no avail.

In sheer frustration, Kaiba hit the one of computer on the top. Then Jennie's fragmented voice shouted, "Jack—Help!"

Tien-Xiang swore and went under the desk. "There's something wrong with the connection! It keeps cutting off the words!"

"Help!" Jennie yelled again. "There's—chasing—aft—Help! Mal—and B.K. are—and I'm—"

The connection completely broke down after that. Panicking slightly, Seto said that Jennie's team seemed to have vanished since their dots were no longer on the screen.

Jackie kicked the hard drives angrily. As if in response, there was an immediate blackout.

"Well…this is nice," Jackie commented.

Then, out of nowhere, black lightning bolts shot out from the wires around the computers and struck the three, lighting the darkness around them. After that, Seto, Jackie, and Tien slumped to the ground and lay still.

* * *

Jennie couldn't run any longer. Tired, she leaned against the wall and tried to recollect her memories from what happened a few minutes before.

Bakura, Malik, and she were calmly running to the center of the house until they heard Erica's anguished yell. She sounded very close. Somewhat worried, Jennie tried to contact Jackie, but there was only a quiet fizz. When Bakura and Malik tried, they got the same thing.

Now the team was very wary. Walking cautiously through the halls, something diverted them into a dead end or so Bakura said. He was very angry that his powers had failed, though it rarely happened before. They were just about to retrace their steps, but when they turned, they faced grotesque, greenish-black roots that were slowly advancing toward them.

Only when Jennie saw that Bakura and Malik were making no movements to move (they were in front of her), she realized they were frozen with fear.

"Bakura? Malik? What's…wrong?" she asked nervously.

The two were usually were arrogant and fearless, but for a good reason. They could practically beat anything. Being scared was _not_ part of their emotions.

"The Vines of Seth." Malik hissed. "They were said to torture the people of the Underworld by reliving their deepest and darkest fears."

"How do we pass it then?" the girl grieved as she was reminded by her almost fanatical fear of heights.

Bakura's forehead glowed with the eye of Horus. "I will distract them. You two go on ahead and see what's wrong with Erica and her team."

Malik nodded and dragged Jennie forward by the wrist. Resisting, Jennie yelled, "What about you! Erica'll kill me if you really get hurt! Not that I care about you, but-"

Suddenly, Jennie was half-blinded by a bright light that made the vines part and recede a bit. This gave Malik and Jennie a chance to run away. Looking back at Bakura, Jennie ran after the Tomb Keeper who was already disappearing into the dark halls.

Shortly after, Malik sensed the vines before Jennie did. As they were passing across another hall, Malik pushed Jennie onto the ground, she barely dodging a wave of the Vines of Seth as it washed over the man, completely engulfing him. Only his hand showed limply outside the mass of green plants. Then, a second later, the vines almost caught Jennie as she was on the floor. Luckily, fear and the will to survive made her shoot up from the ground and run away like the wind…

…Which brought to where Jennie was now.

Angrily, Jennie tossed her headphones away since they were no use now. When she asked for help, no one had responded. Stumbling forward in the darkness, she abruptly tripped over something and crashed onto the floor. Cursing, she rolled over and saw that it was somebody, not something.

"Erica!" the girl said in a terrified yell.

Reaching forward to shake her, she spotted the same disgusting vines from earlier. With a gasp, she also had noticed that the vines had silently wrapped around her own legs. Trying desperately to get out, the roots emitted some kind of gas that made Jennie gag. Then she began to feel very sleepy.

Struggling to stay awake, shaking her head and smacking herself, Jennie began to close her eyes.

"No, dammit, no!" the braided-hair girl whispered to herself, voice laced with tiredness.

Then she fell forward, falling into a deep sleep, the Vines of Seth wrapping itself slowly around the girl.

* * *

A/N: DUM, DUM, DUM! CLIFFHANGER! Yes, I know it's a short chapter, but the next one will be really long…So, might as well make this one short, no?

Man, I wish I could revise this story and add Malik to the mix of people liking Jennie (besides Joey, of course). That would've been really interesting…Erica and Malik trying to kill each other with Jennie hiding in her secret corner, trying to avoid the Tomb Keeper…Well, at least she doesn't have to deal with Yami Marik. Dude, I'm not _that_ heartless… (sweatdrop)

Anyway, here's to the reviewers:

**Isis the Spinx**, **Akari Ishtaru** (wow. I'm an inspiration? That's really COOL!), **Sirenofthenight** (chocolate is my god), **ElementalDemoness23** (yes, I'm sorry for updating only once a week…but if you kill me, there will be no story, so there!), and **candy-animelover600** (Prophecy Beta will have to wait. Now shut up about that stupid Erica comment. Moron.)

NOW I WILL GIVE YOU ALL A PIECE OF VINE OF SETH TO TORTURE YOUR ENEMIES! MWAHAHAHA! See you next Monday.


	21. Chapter 21 Nightmares and Awakening

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: Pweh.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 21 – Nightmares and Awakening

Erica groaned as she sat up. She vaguely remembered someone being in danger and green vines, but when she tried to recall those memories, they just faded away as if someone had erased them. The dark-haired girl shook her head. Everything felt so heavy and fuzzy. Lifting her hand to rub her eyes, she saw a blood-stained hypodermic needle in her hand. Startled, she looked up to find why she has something like this in her hand. Instead, she was met with a completely trashed room. She had clothes and papers on the floor with Ra-knew-what liquid on them, several locks on the half broken door, shattered bottles scattered around her room, and a dusty desk that seemed forgotten under the pile of foul-smelling paper bags.

Horrified, Erica looked at her bedside and saw the most disturbing things. Powdery stuff on small pieces of paper, rolled up cigarettes still smoking in its bowl, and dozens of bottles of vodka, some spilled, others empty, and one filled. Ready to throw those vile things away, Erica parted thick pieces of cloth that spewed years of dust into her face that was supposedly curtains and tried to open the window. It wouldn't budge. Then she saw steel nails embedded on the window sill to keep it shut.

Extremely freaked out, Erica ran to the door. Fumbling with the locks on it, she finally opened it and was slightly relieved to see the normalness of the other parts of the house. Walking to the bathroom across the hall, she looked at herself in the mirror.

Erica screamed.

Erica looked the same; the same clothes, the same hairstyle, the same body…. But her face was deathly pale and her eyes looked vacant as if they had died years ago. Her hair was also messy and tangled while her clothes seemed old and unwashed. Along her arms, too, were bright red spots, blue veins almost neon blue with the comparison to her grey and liveless skin. This was she dreaded the most: an utterly, completely wasted life.

Erica tried her best to wash her face. After doing so, she took a quick shower and felt newly refreshed. She put a healing salve on her punctured arms. Then, going into a robe, she went into her room and tried to find clean clothes. No success. Erica just had to settle with a long-sleeved t-shirt to hide her red arms and semi-clean jeans. Looking into mirror again, she almost looked human with the exception of the heavy bags under her still empty eyes. Erica blinked. With a shock, she realized that something wasn't right. How could all this be here when she clearly hated and feared it? Something seemed to be wrong, but what?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a clock on the floor. School was almost about to start! Startled, she grabbed her curiously empty backpack and caught her dad just as he was about to go to work. Hurrying into the car, her dad seemed startled to see her.

"Come on, Dad! I need to get to school!" Erica shouted.

Erica's dad blinked. Then his eyes narrowed. "You're just going so you can hang out with your wasted friends and to skip school again, aren't you?"

Now it was the dark-haired girl's turn to be shocked. "What! I'll never do that!"

Her dad snorted and started the car. Shortly, they reached the high school and Erica quickly got off. Before she could say her usual goodbye to her dad, he just drove off. Confused and hurt, the girl went up the steps to homeroom.

The reaction was scary once she got into her classroom. Everyone seemed surprised to see Erica, the teacher most of all. Waving to all of them uncertainly, she sat next to Jackie who was in the same homeroom as her. Everyone finally stopped staring at Erica and was whispering and giving the female disdainful looks.

"Why are YOU sitting here?" Jackie snapped, his eyes flashing with scorn.

Erica gave her best friend a weird look. "I always sit next to you!"

"Not anymore. You hang out with those half-dead idiots, smoking pot, writing graffiti, and trying to act 'cool.'"

"What! No! That's stupid and gross!"

"Hah! Yeah, right! What's that to you?"

"Look at me! Do I look like that?"

"Oh, about that. Did you decide to have a make-over or something?"

"No! This is me!"

Jackie's eyes faded with regret behind his glasses. He said softly, "No. What you _used_ to be."

The homeroom bell rang. As the students filed out, leaving Erica still in her seat close to tears. What the hell was happening here?

Apparently, all of Erica's classes were basically the same. Classmates and teachers looked at her with disapproval and hatred, a failing grade in every class, no homework handed in since the beginning of the school year, and that everyone didn't want to sit next to her, nevertheless look at her. Jennie, too, ignored her and Jackie remained far away from Erica. By the end of the day, Erica was crying silently, no one even caring, and went into a bathroom so she wouldn't be tortured by the hatred everyone had towards her.

Unfortunately, things got worse there. When Erica came in, she was attacked by a fog of smoke that sent her wheezing and coughing.

In the haze, a male's voice hissed out, "Oh, Erica. You came. Wanna have a drift and just hang?"

Erica looked up and saw a face that was sickly yellow, oily hair, blood everywhere, and brown clothes that was once blue. He looked wasted. Of course, there were others in the smoke, babbling senselessly. Her sadness suddenly turned to one of anger. Erica forced herself to stop coughing and grabbed the cigarette from the male's lips, the flame in it burning her hand.

"Hey! What the hell's your-" the boy started, but Erica interrupted, her once barren eyes flashing amber.

"You want to know what's my problem?" Erica screamed. "My problem is that I had a great life, great friends, and a future. I don't know what the hell happened to make all this happen, but I'm sick of it! Everyone hates me! I hate myself! Perhaps my fear wasn't having a wasted life. Maybe it was losing everyone's respect and my friends. Maybe I was doubting whether or not I really mattered to anyone. So, don't ask me what is _my_ problem! I least I'm sober enough to know _what_ my problem is! You just want your pot back!"

"Then give it back, asshole!" the boy yelled back.

Erica's eyes faded from its fury and only hopelessness remained. With a frustrated bellow, she threw the cigarette on the floor and exploded out of the bathroom, people staring after her.

'I've had it. I'm not going to stay in this school. I'm going to change everything,' the girl thought.

As she turned the corner of the hall, she crashed into another person that sent both persons to the floor.

"Argh! Watch where you're going, genius!" a familiar girl's voice snapped.

Erica blinked as she held her throbbing head. She knew this voice. Looking across from her, she saw a female with light brown hair that was in a long braid.

"Jennie!" Erica cried.

The braided-haired girl looked at her. However, her scowl did not change. "Oh. It's you."

Erica's momentary happy face fell.

"Well, bye," Jennie said curtly as she stood up, picking up her books.

When the teenager was about to walk past the amber-eyed girl, Erica grabbed hold of her pants.Face covered by her long hair, Erica whispered weakly, almost desperately, "Jennie…w-we're still friends, aren't we?"

Jennie pulled her leg away harshly from the trembling girl's hands. "Sorry. I'm not friends with people who don't have lives."

Shortly, after Erica walked the long way home and went into her house (her mom ignored her as if she was ashamed to acknowledge her; she shouldn't blame her), she got a hammer from the garage and tore down the shades from her window. She used the hammer to wrench out the nails. When the final nail flew off, she opened the window. After that, she threw out the drugs from her bedside, her clothes from her room, anything that might represent her fallowed self. In a few minutes, her room was practically empty except for a few large items. Sunlight flowed into her room and new air replaced the stagnant, foul one.

Sticking her head out the window, Erica screamed as long as she could until her voice was hoarse. Then she buried her head into her hands, slipping down from the window to the floor.

"This has to be a dream. This has to be a dream…" Erica mumbled to herself, feeling herself crumbling away. "I want to wake up. …I'm not afraid anymore."

Then something strange cracked inside Erica's mind.

"Daaaaaamn…You weren't joking when you said you changed," a female voice commented outside the house.

Erica's eyes shot open and she almost fell out the window when she scrambled up to look outside. As she looked down, she saw Jennie and Jackie both surveying the damage Erica did when she went on her throwing spree.

"You do know that you wasted about a couple of thousands by throwing this stuff out," Jackie said, lifting up a bag of powdered marijuana.

Erica blinked. "What…what are you guys doing here?"

Jennie smirked mischievously up at her. "You sounded pretty pathetic back at the school and we thought we should check out if you really meant what you said."

"Yeah." Jackie nodded, throwing the marijuana away over his shoulder. "Just don't kill our hopes again. You said a couple of times before that you were going to change only to ask money from us for this crap again a few days later."

"So…you didn't leave me here to…" Erica drifted, seeing her eyes blur from the tears that came again.

Jennie and Jackie shook their head. Jennie laughed cheerfully, "How could we? No matter how wasted you are, you're still our friend. Real friends don't abandon each other...which kinda explains the years it took us to help you only to find out that you helped yourself."

Erica closed her eyes. Suddenly she felt so tired. Relieved, by so tired. Her tears vanished into the air as if they were illusions.

"Thank you," she simply whispered.

Then she fell out the window as time slowed, her two friends shouting out from her unconscious action. But it was okay. Her mind was already somewhere else, content that she had woken up from this nightmare.

* * *

Jennie tried to climb back on the rope she had desperately hung on to. With a whimper, she cautiously looked down. Below her were hundreds and hundreds of spikes, all shiny from the blood of other people that didn't seem to have been dead very long. The spikes were through the bodies, eyes vacant and all staring at her, as if blaming her for their plight. The very sight made her shiver and sick to her stomach. A harsh, cold wind tore at her face and clothes, rocking the straw rope that she held onto dangerously. All around her was a neutral white that seemed chillingly apathetic to her trouble. This only made her hang onto the rope tighter.

The girl forgot how she got here. Being so scared had also made her forget everything that she had known. Jennie felt so cold, so alone, so empty. Was she here to hang there for all eternity until the rope snapped or her fingers grew tired? The wind slashed at her face again.

Looking down once more, she saw the deads' faces, the height of where she was, and the sparkling needles that glowed red. Jennie started to cry. She didn't want to die! She wanted to live! Jennie's body shook from her hysterical tears and the cold that bit her fingers. Suddenly, the girl slipped a yard or so, her feet dangling off the end of the rope.

Jennie bit her lip until it bled, trying to go higher, but she only succeeded in slipping down more and more. Her arms were starting to ache. She didn't want to die! She was afraid to die! Then Jennie began to feel sleepy. When her eyes started droop, she shook her head furiously.

"No!" the braided-haired girl yelled at herself. Her voice echoed strangely through the whiteness.

'Fall,' a voice hissed inside her head maliciously.

Abruptly, a force pushed her down the rope until her hands were struggling with the end of the cord.

"I don't want to die! Leave me alone! I don't want to die!" Jennie openly sobbed, tone frenzied with pure fear.

Jennie saw the spikes almost reaching out for her. They wavered below her like water as her eyes filled with tears. A memory tingled in the back of her head…

"_I really, REALLY don't want to do this," Jennie complained as she was attaching the bungee cord to her waist. When she glanced up, she saw a boy and girl doing the same. For some reason, their faces were fuzzy._

She couldn't remember them…

_The girl beside Jennie snorted. "Heck, we don't want to do this either. Jackie and I are doing this for your sake."_

"_Really? I just wanted to do this," the boy smiled honestly. _

_Jennie smacked his head. The other girl chortled._

Jackie…so familiar…

"_Okaaaay! You ready, Jennie?" the girl said, looking down the platform. She whistled at the immense height._

"_No," Jennie bluntly answered._

_The boy laughed and pat Jennie's arm. "Don't worry! We'll fall to our doom with ya!"_

"_D-Doom?" Jennie said weakly._

_The other female whacked the boy on the shoulder and snapped, "Don't depress her, idiot!"_

_Jennie and Jackie laughed, more or less._

_Then the girl held onto Jennie's hand and Jennie held Jackie's._

_"Ready guys?" the girl said._

_Jackie cheered and Jennie held her friend's hand a little tighter. This brought some comfort._

_Then they jumped, careening down a one-hundred seventy feet dive with only a bungee cord to save them. Just when the three were about to crash into the water below, they suddenly stopped, bounced up, and went back down, barely hitting the water._

_Laughing hard, Jennie touched the water with her hand. With a deep breath, she said, "LET'S DO THAT AGAIN!"_

_The two people next to her cheered and complimented Jennie. She had officially become unafraid of heights. Going back up the platform and short time later, Jennie hugged her two best friends._

_"Thanks, Jackie, Erica. I owe you one!" she grinned._

Erica…

Jennie blinked away her tears as they fell down onto the spikes. Smiling weakly, she found herself strangely calm. She wasn't afraid anymore. Closing her eyes, she felt the girl's presence very close. She felt safe. As long as her friend was there, she okay. She was going to be okay…

* * *

Jackie moaned as he got up to his knees. Dizzy, he felt the edge of the desk next to him and pulled himself up. Opening his eyes, he analyzed the damage around the basement.

The electricity had burned everything, all the equipment. Then he spotted Kaiba and his uncle still on the ground. Stumbling toward them, he was relieved to know that both persons were alive. They were simply unconscious, though burnt. Well, so was he.

After taking a five minute nap, his groggy mind gradually cleared. Shaking away the remains of the headache, he had another one when all the past chaos rushed back to him. Erica's retreat on the computer screen, Jennie's panicked cry of help, and the sudden blackout with a touch of electrocution. There was only one explanation as to how all this happened.

The Shadow Realm.

All the equipment was fine and new. Also the power could support all of the house's electricity at once even in the hot summer (the trio tried this for fun, though they got scolded by Tien for the prices on the electricity bill). There was no reason for it to shutdown. The only reason was that the Realm had somehow hacked into his system through the communicators to sabotage their plan.

Suddenly, a horrid thought hit him. What about Jennie and Erica? They might still be in trouble or…or…. Becoming awake immediately, Jackie rushed out if the basement, down the dark halls, slipped into some walls, and eventually stumbled into the garage. He took Jennie's bike and pedaled as fast as he could. Though it was faster to take the car, it was already the afternoon and it was traffic time. He had no time to waste!

He didn't care if he was being rash. All he wanted to do was to save his only best friends. They were the only people who kept him sane and alive throughout this whole ordeal! He had to save them!

Oh, yes. The Yu-Gi-Oh cast, too, of course.

* * *

Erica opened her eyes slowly. Instead of seeing the grass below her, she was now floating in a white void of nothingness. Feeling oddly calm, she looked at her right hand in awe. It was glowing. Then, ever so gently, she touched the white void at her feet.

Whatever the shine was, the radiance of her fingers washed down into the void and rippled throughout the white space. Slowly, as twinkle-like sound echoed throughout the place and the ripples receded into eternity, a thin gold piece rose from where Erica had touched and started to levitate. Curious, Erica looked at the piece.

The gold thing seemed to have engraved slides on one of the sides and if one looked closely, it had small pulleys, screws, and complicated machinery tinkering inside the paper-thin block. It was a third the width of what a normal card would've looked like. From Erica's observation, the length seemed to be the same inches as a playing card.

Then, cautiously, the girl grasped the whole thing in her hand.

At first, the piece began to warm Erica's palm. A second later, it began to vibrate. Finally, the block sent out a huge span of light that was shaped like a fan. It completely washed over Erica and the whole void was filled with golden light. Covering her eyes, the dark-haired teen held onto the piece with her other hand. Opening one eye cautiously, she saw words flash across its golden surface. It made her wonder.

Before she could look again, the block and the girl disappeared.

* * *

It was now or never. Jennie looked down and took a deep breath. In just a short time, the girl remembered everything that had happened and was trying to find a way to escape now that she got her wit back. The only solution she could come up with, so far, was to let go of the rope willingly and fall. If she was right, all this was just an illusion and by breaking it she would be able to go back to the Yu-Gi-Oh world. Right. She was going with the falling plan.

Jennie took in one final, deep, long breath. Then she let go.

Time seemed to slow as Jennie fell bravely down. Getting slightly worried that the bloodied spikes weren't disappearing, she started to flap around like a chicken in an attempt to fly back up.

As she did so, she saw her left hand emanate a silver light. Distracted, Jennie turned her silver hand into a fist. Abruptly the color drained away from her hand and felt a strange object in her hand. She felt it pulsing like a beating heart. She also felt engraving along its sides. Opening her hand, a silver, paper-thin piece of block floated lazily upwards. There was strange whistling sound in the air.

Stubborn to get it back for some reason, Jennie grabbed the silver thing. As she held it securely in her fist, brightness started to leak through. Then she felt a curious sense of warmth spreading throughout her body. Grabbing the thing in both hands, the silver piece pulled up, dragging Jennie with it. Looking back down, Jennie noticed that she was fading away like a ghost. Fearful, she tried to wrench her hands off the metal, but they seemed to be super-glued and duck-taped to it. There was one thing she could do; she accepted it just like how she had accepted her fears.

At last, she vanished.

* * *

Jackie struggled through the light fog in the house and avoided the freaky-looking vines that made small movements to get him. Then, quite unexpectedly, he tripped over a huge mound of plants and crashed right into a wall. Grumbling incoherently, he turned to see the foliage. Then his eyes became wide. Under the mass were his two friends, moving only slightly.

The hacker-boy attempted to pull the vines off of Jennie and Erica, but it held tighter and once it tried to tie his hands up. Angry, he took out a magic card and raised it above his head.

"Serene Bronze!" he yelled.

Immediately, the hall was engulfed in a glittering brown light, the vines of puke green franticly escaping through the ruined ceilings. When the luminosity eventually faded, the card disintegrated in his hands and a hard object formed instead. Looking up at it, he saw a bronze piece that was paper-thin and had slides on one side of it.

Jackie would've forgotten the whole idea of rescuing if he hadn't heard two moans. He reluctantly diverted his attention and with happiness saw Jennie and Erica sit up.

"Ouchies," the two girls muttered at the same time and shouted in panic when Jackie tackled them in a bear hug.

"Thank everything holy that you girls are okay!" the boy said, relieved, releasing the females from his crushing embrace.

While Erica choked for breath, Jennie opened her hand, showing her silver piece. Jennie looked bewildered. Jackie showed his piece and they both waited for Erica to catch her breath.

"It seems like-" the amber-eyed teenager gagged, "-like we're supposed to have these things 'cause I have one, too."

She revealed the gold piece in her hand.

Jennie said thoughtfully, "Maybe these blocks are supposed to help us?"

The other two shrugged.

"Talking about helping, where're the others?" Erica included.

The boy got up from the floor and looked at the hall before them. "Well, I didn't see any of them on the way here. Nor did I face any trouble. I bet the Realm has them at the center to use as human batteries."

"Oh, that's nice!" Jennie snorted sarcastically.

Jackie shot back, "Instead of being sadistic, we could get a move on! I took three hours get to you guys, so it's almost night! If we don't do anything fast, we'll be trapped in this damn house forever!"

The braided hair girl made a face and stood up, too. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on, Erica. Gotta save the world. …Erica?"

The other woman didn't move, her face frozen in fear.

"Uh, Erica?" Jackie droned, poking the girl.

Then she gulped and said in a trembling voice, "You know, I was going to argue that we should think up of a plan before we go, but now I don't have a reason to because…THERE'S A WAVE OF EVIL VINES FLYING TOWARD US! RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!"

The other two looked behind them and saw the a tsunami of Vines of Seth advancing toward them rapidly. Screaming, Jackie and Jennie chased after the sprinting Erica, practically going past her in the process. Only when they fell into a large room, shutting the doors behind them, did they stop running. Unfortunately, worse things were about to happen.

Jennie looked behind her as her friends took a breather. Then she pat Jackie's head. "Sorry to disturb you, but there's a purplish mass that I assume is the Shadow Realm."

"WHAAAAAAAA!" Erica and Jackie yelled. They immediately turned and looked ahead.

Jennie was right. A large, gel-like blob was pulsing slightly with its tentacles stretched all over the room…

…And inside it were their friends.

* * *

A/N: (slumps on top of the computer) SO TIRED! I typed this up in six hours, non-stop. Curse being a slow typer…

Anyway, told ya it was going to be a long chapter. Well, a couple of times I was thinking of changing Erica's fear because it's pretty serious and I thought it might've been too much. But then, I got lazy after typing a different scenario five times so I just decided to go through the drug addict version. Also, Jennie's fear was less "serious" than Erica's because she had stronger resolve in herself and her friends. She needed something more physical than psychological to scare the pants off her. I was tempted to do Jackie's fear, too, but I decided against it because I couldn't think up of a right terror for the guy. If I wanted to be silly, his fears would be ninjas attacking him in his sleep with nun chucks made of old butter (remember Jackie's allergy and its effect…?). Hmm…yeah. Butter.

Well, HERE'S TO THE REVIEWERS!

**Akari Ishtaru**, **Sirenofthenight **(GO BLACK BEAUTY!), **ElementalDemoness23**, **candy-animelover600 **(…you can't take away my PS2…you're at the other end of the world…), **Isis the Sphinx**, and **fairys'maiden **(Flying hamsters? I LIKE THAT!).

Wow…I had so many reviews…I feel so loved…HERE'S A COOKIE FOR ALL OF YOU! NOW GO PRESS THAT PURPLE BUTTON!


	22. Chapter 22 Illusion

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: POOPY!

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 22 – Illusion

After defeating their fears while trapped in the Vines of Seth, Jennie and Erica were running away with Jackie only to end up in the same room as the Shadow Realm…and trapped inside, were their friends.

"Guys!" Erica shouted, rushing forward.

Before the other could grab her back, some of the tentacles that were around the pulsing glob of the Shadow Realm turned into knives and struck at the girl. Luckily, she jumped back, crashing into Jennie.

"Smooth move, ballerina!" Jennie snapped, pushing her friend off her.

Gasping, Erica bellowed, "WHAT THE FREAK WAS THAT?"

Jackie shrugged as he stared slightly at the purple mass.

"Okay." Jennie started, claming down. "What do we do now? The Shadow Realm has our friends inside its body and we can't destroy it without destroying the YGO cast."

"Maybe we could take the YGO cast out first before we destroy it," Erica suggested.

Jackie stopped staring at the blob and said sarcastically, "Oh, yeah! Just come up to it and say, 'Hi! Do you mind if you could spit out our friends and let us destroy you to smithereens?' I think NOT!"

"Well, we have to do something!" Jennie hissed.

Then, abruptly, the grotesque mass seemed to belch out another smaller mass right at the three. Quickly, they split, the glob bouncing on the floor and then crashing into the door. Walking toward it carefully, Erica saw that there were bodies in it.

"Oh my God!" Erica said with an intake of breath. "There's Malik and Bakura in there!"

Quickly, she tried to rip the glob off, yelling to her friends to help. The two hesitated until Jackie ripped off some of the blob, too. Only Jennie remained standing there.

"Help us!" Jackie shouted.

"I don't know…that thing seems iffy to me…" commented Jennie. Her two friends threw dirty looks at her. "Okay! Okay! I'm comin'!"

When the girl took one more step, though, Jackie's and Erica's hair were raised up as if by static. Erica didn't notice anything, but Jackie did.

He wrenched his hands off the gobbet and pushed the tomboy away from it, too. "Get away! This thing's electri—"

All of a sudden, lightning shot from the gooey-ness, striking Erica and Jackie like blades, cutting them in several places. Jennie was lucky enough to duck so she was unscathed. After the electric tornado was gone, the braided-hair girl looked up from the shelter of her arms. Jackie was boldly still standing, but Erica was sitting on the floor, head between her knees, and clutching her arms. Their bodies and clothes were cut, red blood dripping down from light to deep scratches.

"Oh my God…" Jennie gasped and ran forward. Gripping Erica's shoulders securely, she looked up at the panting boy for an explanation.

Jackie groaned as he collapsed on his knees and said furiously, "That damn thing was an illusion! It wanted to trick us so we'd be like this! Damn it!"

Jennie looked at the small blob and saw the bodies of Malik and Bakura disappear like how a hologram would fade away. Horrified, she felt Erica tense and grip her arms even more tightly. Blood rushed out once more from her wounds.

"That is IT!" the girl whispered softly. Her two friends glanced at her with alarm. Her anger signs were showing through. "I had enough of this bull. I don't care if I die."

Slowly, the tomboy stood up weakly. She was clutching a card in her hand and her amber brown eyes flares like flames. Jennie and Jackie got up also and took out their favorite card. They all faced the Shadow Realm's center and watched it ripple and pulse. The bodies of the Yu-Gi-Oh case seemed to float inside its body. Standing in a semi-circle, the three raised their cards high above them. In loud tones, they summoned their monsters.

"Flower Mage!"

"Black Wizard!"

"Elemental Dragon!"

The cards glowed like the sun and shot beams in all directions. A sudden wind picked up. Unable to stand the gales and light, the trio fell into the ground, clutching each other and closing their eyes, their hair whipping their faces. As the lights formed into figures, the bluish-purple mass seemed to recoil its huge body. Slowly, the light faded and three forms came forward.

One was a cheerful sprite with blond hair and green clothes around her body, ribbons floating around her. She held a staff decorated with various flowers. Another was a man clad in black armor, a sable cape, and another silver staff topped with a huge crescent moon and a star levitating in the middle. Finally, there was a multicolored, enormous Chinese dragon with long fangs and glistening wings. It looked over the smaller humanoid figures like a guardian. Gently, they all went down onto the floor and helped their masters up onto their feet.

"Whoa," the trio chorused, staring at their monsters.

The Black Wizard and the Flower Mage were at least a head taller then Jackie and Jennie while the Elemental Dragon took caution to duck its head from the high ceiling. The Mage giggled at their expressions.

Jennie smiled at her friends. "Hey! Mine has a sense of humor!"

The other two nodded absent-mindedly.

The Wizard bowed slightly before Jackie.

"This guy has manners! Finally someone shows me some respect!"

The Dragon leaned its delicate head to Erica's level. Cautiously, she pet its head. A loud rumbling sound in its throat and its tail trashed around the room happily.

Erica squealed as she hugged the Elemental Dragon's snout, "Awwww! It's purring! Isn't it cuuuuuuute!"

Everyone stared at the dragon and Erica with a slight scared expression. Then, without warning, a sharp tentacle shot toward them. Swiftly, the Black Wizard stopped it in mid-air and split to pieces like glass. Quickly at attention, everyone faced the physical form of the Shadow Realm. With alarm, the six saw black monsters appear in front of the glob, ready to kill.

With fear, Jennie, Erica, and Jackie clutched onto their monster for safety. Instead, they fell into their bodies with burst of light and became one.

Once again, they all said, "Whoa."

"Holy Jesus! I'm a magician!" Jackie yelled, swinging his staff around, narrowly missing Jennie's head as she dodged his attacks.

"What about me, thick-head!" Jennie snapped, bonking the boy with her stick. "I have to be a flower mage with a _dress_! How damn stupid is that! A _FLOWER_ mage! Come on!"

The dragon snapped its jaws at the two. Shockingly, when its mouth moved, Erica's voice came out from it. "What about ME! I'm a freakin' dragon with green vision and smelling every fart from the Shadow Realm and its monsters! That's not nice I'll tell you that!"

Again Jennie and Jackie stared at Erica.

The big blob shook in indignantly from being ignored and shot more electrocuting gooey things. With awesome speed, the trio dodged in their new, strange forms. When the attacks finally stopped, Jennie and Jackie stood sided by side in the air while Erica remained on the ground. The monsters of the Realm and the trio traded murderous looks. After a few tense minutes, one of the opposing monsters blew a beam of red energy by Jennie's head, creating a huge crater in the wall. With war cries, everyone attacked.

The war had begun.

* * *

The last monster of the Shadow Realm roared and dissipated into the stank air as Erica lashed her tail at it. Jennie and Jackie were nearby, pointing their staffs at the Shadow Realm blob thing. Soon, the Elemental Dragon rose up to be with them. Then the mass gave futile efforts to attack with its tentacles, but it was too slow. With a mighty heave, Jennie and Jackie grabbed one tentacle each and tossed the Shadow Realm off its floor and into the wall with boom. 

Immediately, as if on queue, Erica shot forward and lashed her tail at the thing, scraping off parts of its body. It screamed in fury, but could do nothing when the dragon girl shot a beam of white from her mouth and into the middle of the Realm's body. The Yu-Gi-Oh cast shot out then, landing on the floor far away from the blob. Rearing back from the mass's flailing arms, Erica joined her two magical friends once more.

"Ready?" Jackie said in a soft voice. The other two nodded.

Jennie hissed, "I've been waiting for this day!"

The girl and boy combined their staffs and a bright light from Jennie's stick combined with Jackie's dark one. The translucent orb grew bigger and was about to get even bigger when Erica leaned her head back to let out a maelstrom of rainbow beams. As the three powered up for a final attack, the mass (much smaller now since it was so deprived of energy) frantically tried to find a place to hide. Just when the attack was about to shoot forward, the Shadow Realm yelled out a straggled shriek. It was squeaky and begging.

"Please! Spare me! You don't have to destroy me! In a blink I can get you back home! Please, you don't have to do this!" the Shadow Realm screamed.

The orb faded as Jackie and Erica glanced at each other with uncertainty. Jennie, however, was still pointing her staff at the Realm.

Gritting her teeth, the girl shouted, "Ohhhh, no! I've come waaaay too far to give up and go home! I'm going to kill you, rip you apart, and watch you get eaten by your own monsters!"

Everyone stared at Jennie as she whipped her wand around like a maniac. Only when Erica had bonked Jennie on the head with her tail did she stop fuming.

"Listen," Jackie reasoned, whispering to his friends, "we could just go home! Just like that! Even if we do win this, we might not be able to fix a portal that'll go into our world. For all we know, we just might stay here for all our lives! Though I hate to admit it, the Shadow Realm has a point!"

Erica contradicted, "But we can't just leave the Yu-Gi-Oh cast there! With that stupid thing hanging around, it could destroy the Yu-Gi-Oh world! Also, did you forget that Tien-Xiang said that it could affect our world, too?"

"Yeah! Are you going to leave Tien here, also?" Jennie snapped.

Jackie looked shocked and scratched his head from wonder. Drifting, he muttered, "I forgot about that…"

"YOU FORGOT?" the dragon and the sprite yelled. Then they moaned in exasperation.

"I have short memory, okay? But even I don't forget that!" Jennie shouted at the boy's ear. Erica agreed by nodding.

As the Flower Mage was giving a lecture to the poor Black Wizard, the now smaller Shadow Realm snarled, flung itself between the two arguing people, and attached itself to Erica's dragon head. Roaring, the Elemental Dragon tried to shake off the thing. Jennie tried to help by ripping off the blob, but got brutally electrocuted instead. Jackie caught the fairy and dragged her back into the air since she was falling, but dropped, too, when the Shadow Realm stunned him with its tentacles. Fortunately, the Elemental Dragon wrapped the two in her tail. Then the mass exerted a gas right into Erica's nostrils. Feeling faint, the dragon fell with her friends.

The ground shook as the serpent slammed onto the ground, everything growing dark. Slowly, the Shadow Realm thingy inched over the heroes, soaking them up into its body…

* * *

Jackie moaned as he got up from the sidewalk and sleepily looked around. In his hand held a school textbook and next to him was Erica's broken cell phone. It was right at the time when he had been sucked into the other world. It seemed like time hadn't continued from the moment he had left. 

What was he thinking about? He was always here…wasn't he?

Confused, the boy felt vague memories drifting away until there was none. Only the memory of having to review for the comprehension test remained.

Waving away the feel of apprehension, he stood up and called, "Hey, Raccooooon! You home?"

After a few minutes passed by, he felt some déjà vu. Scratching his head, he was about to walk away until a window opened and a cat alarm clock hit him hard on the head.

"Damn it, I'm watching T.V.!" Erica screamed. "Go through the front door! It's opened!"

After the girl closed the window with a boom, Jackie threw profanity around for a minute before going to the front door. When he entered, Erica attacked him by swinging her huge literature book, missing Jackie's head by centimeters. The two ran around the house, dodged the girl's mom as she threatened them to stop running with the kitchen knife, and finally settled into the living room, reading together.

"…and, so, ends our tale of the one who did not forget," the tomboy concluded. Taking out flashbacks for the vocabulary, she was about to test her best friend. Apparently, there was a vacant look about him.

"Hey, Sherlock! Testin' time!" the girl muttered, chucking cards.

Jackie shook his head to clear it and asked with hesitation, "Did you feel…weird an hour ago or anything unusual?"

Erica looked up at the ceiling. "Well…yeah. I went down to the basement so I could turn the power on because we had a blackout, but for some reason I was on the floor as if I fell. I felt like I was missing something. You know that feeling, right?"

The boy nodded.

"Well, that feeling was going haywire. Everything said that I should stay down there, but I just went back up here. All I remembered was watching Yu-Gi-Oh and stuff."

"Perhaps it was more than a coincidence that this happened since I found myself on the sidewalk. It was like I was losing something important, but I didn't know what," Jackie said, frowning.

"Eh, I'll just call Jennie about this. For some reason, I think she feels this way, too. Now where is that blasted cell phone…?"

While the girl rummaged around, Jackie nervously tapped his pen on the coffee table. He had broken it when he found it outside. He wondered if Erica would be mad…

"Uh…Erica?"

"What?"

"I think I…uh…"

"Damn it! Where is that thing?"

"Um…"

"Did you find it anywhere, Jackie?"

"Erm…"

"I think I dropped it outside."

The girl rushed out the door and into the lawn, continuing her search. Jackie looked around for something to defend himself with and just when he got pillows, Erica's angry bellow was heard.

"JACKIE! I'M GOING TO _KILL_ YOU!"

* * *

Through the week, the two students (and Jennie) had to go to school and it was very tense week indeed. Though the trio spent a lot of time together at school, they spent most of their time in silence, trading looks of seemingly pointless worries. In Language Arts class, the three became a group for a one day project. 

"UGH! Screw this! I can't concentrate at all!" the tomboy yelled, throwing her sheet of paper away. Jennie agreed with same aggravated tone.

Jackie stated, still working, "We have to finish this, guys. It's half our marking period grade."

Jennie grabbed his paper out of his hands. "Don't you feel even a bit muddled? I've been feeling nervous all week for no reason at all and all you can think about is work?"

"Well," Jackie snatched his sheet back, "you don't care either."

"So what! I wasn't on Monday, not on Tuesday, not even Wednesday! However, ever since I saw a commercial on the new YGO episodes, I've had dreams. Dreams of the strangest things that's even weird to me. Now that it's Friday and the Yu-Gi-Oh is coming up tomorrow, I feel really, _really_ nervous. I didn't care before, but now I do."

Jackie had a grave face and whispered, "I had dreams, too. I never have them, but now I do. I feel scared. Yes, I admit it. I'm almost scared for Saturday to come. I don't know why."

"Come to my house tomorrow then," Erica volunteered, eyes serious. "You guys in or out?"

The braided-hair girl and the hacker boy exchanged looks. "…I'm in."

* * *

When Erica's two friends came on Saturday, Jennie and Jackie greeted each other like best friends normally did: slap each other hard on the back. While Erica waited out the slapping matches, the two finally settled and faced each other across the coffee table. 

"Okay." Jennie said, taking a deep breath. "We came and meet here today to find out the reason for our hysteria. Before Yu-Gi-Oh comes up, any suggestions in why we might be so scared?"

Erica raised her hand and started rapidly, "Maybewegotabductedintoalargeportalforasplit-secondandwentintotheYGOworldwherewehavetobeattheShadowRealmfromrulingitsandour-worldandwhenwewerefightingit,wegottransportedbackhomewherethisisallanillusiontomakeusforget-thattherewaseverarealYu-Gi-Ohworld."

There was silence until Jackie keeled over and laughed his head off.

Jennie pat the dark-haired girl's head sympathetically, "You poor thing, having no life other than daydreaming about alternate realities."

Erica tried to bite her friend's hand, but she moved it just in time. Jackie was still laughing until Jennie threw a pillow at him to shut up. Then the clock above the T.V. rang the start of Yu-Gi-Oh. Holding their breaths, Erica turned on the T.V. and for the next thirty minutes they watched Yami duel.

Through the show, not even one of the three had made a sound. Usually, they made smart aleck comments about how stupid the cast was, but even when the commercials came up, there was still no sound. Occasionally, Erica's dad would look in to see how they were doing, but when he saw their intense and grave faces, he knew that it wasn't the time to bother the teenagers.

Finally, Erica turned off the television. The three were silent and Jackie had taken off his glasses so he could rub his face without destroying it. Jennie had her head in her hands and the other girl was staring at the coffee table.

"I guess your idea of us being abducted into the Yu-Gi-Oh world wasn't so crazy after all," Jackie laughed weakly. Erica said nothing.

Jennie's voice came softly, a bit muffled from her hands, "I can't believe we forgot what happened. Then this is all an illusion. The Shadow Realm…that thing wanted us to forget…and we almost did…."

There was a depressed silence once again. Suddenly, Erica stood up and held up a card that materialized out of thin air. The other two got up, too, holding the same cards as the amber-eyed female.

"I think it's time to get out of this dump, right, guys?" Erica winked at her two best friends. They smirked with self-confidence.

"RELEASE!" they all hollered simultaneously in one voice, raising their cards like a glowing beacon.

The images around the three wavered like a ripple in water. Then it suddenly cracked apart into a million pieces like a mirror. Yelling in panic, the trio fell into darkness and was engulfed by light. Blinded, they all closed their eyes and felt themselves drifting away. With a roar in their ears, they came back to try once more to defeat the Shadow Realm. This time, they were going to destroy it, no matter what.

* * *

A/N: I'm done! Yes! Well, yeah…OH, LOOK! ANOTHER ILLUSION TRICK BY THE REALM! Silly, Shadow Realm! Illusions are for kids! 

By the by, I'm sorry for not updating on Monday. Fanfiction. Net decided to be a jerk again and not let me update. I spent three effin' hours trying to get in before trying again today…

Anyway, I GOT OVER A HUNDRED REVIEWS! MYLIFE IS NOW COMPLETE! (punches the air in victory) I want to thank all those reviewers who have stayed with me since chapter one and for putting up with my uber-slow updating skills. THANK YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING! YOU GUYS MAKE ME SO HAPPY! (sparkles shine around her) I feel so looooooved! HERE'S TO MY WONDERFUL REVIEWERS!

**Isis the Spinx**, **Sirenofthenight**, **Akari Ishtaru **(who's…Kura?), **candy-animelover600**, **fairys'maiden** (I know about the dream thing. It's weird, isn't it?), and **ElementalDemoness23**.

Since this story has reached past the hundredth point, I'm updating again on Friday! Did you read that? I AM UPDATING ON FRIDAY! Yup! IT'S A PRESENT FOR ALL YOU! Then I'm going to update at the Monday after that and the schedule will be the same.

SO REVIEW!


	23. Chapter 23 Danger

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh…or Barney.

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 23 – Danger

Jennie opened her eyes tiredly and was met with purple-tinged darkness. She felt like she was floating in the dark. She felt so weak. Blinking blearily a few times, Jennie saw that she wasn't in some violet dimension. Nope. She was _inside_ the Shadow Realm. Panicking, Jennie breathed faster and started to suffocate in the goo that she was in.

Choking, the girl calmed down and was able to breathe again. Unfortunately, she panicked once more when something grabbed her braid and pulled her back. Punching the person right in the face, or whatever it was, the thing let go of her hair and moaned. Turning around, Jennie saw that it was Erica. Next to her was Jackie, face contorted with silent laughter.

"Why'd you pull my—" Jennie began, but coughed when some of the purple blob went into her mouth. Realizing that she couldn't talk, she made signs asking in what had happened.

Erica somehow mimed out that they had woken up from the illusion and was eaten the Shadow Realm to be used as new human batteries. It had gone to the point where it had sucked the three's monster forms away since they were human again. They were headed outside of the mansion and the thing hadn't realized yet that they were conscious.

After this, Jennie realized that her friend was right since she wasn't in Flower Mage form ('Thank Heavens,' she thought) and could barely see through the skin of the mass that they were indeed moving. Then she noticed that the Realm had gotten bigger—_much_ bigger.

"We have to hurry." Jackie said in hand motions. "Every minute makes us weaker."

The two other girls nodded and went around the edges to find any weakness of the Realm. To make a long story short, there wasn't any. Frustrated, Jennie started to kick the thing's wall until Erica stopped her.

Beckoning to the other boy, the amber-eyed acted out, "Is it just me or did the Shadow Realm stop moving?"

The trio looked around and indeed the blob had stilled. Before any one of them could think of why it had stopped, black electricity shot around the inside, wounding the three. They screamed as the goop muffled their cries and one by one, they started to lose consciousness.

As the trio fought to stay awake, gold, silver, and bronze lights shone from their pockets. Glancing at each other, they struggled to take whatever it was out. It was the blocks that the trio had acquired from the nightmares of the Vines of Seth. All of a sudden, the blocks blasted a stream of light, creating a whole in the Shadow Realm's body. It was big enough for them to get through.

Swimming with all their strength, Jennie, Jackie, and Erica fell through it and into the outside world. The Realm shrieked from pain behind them.

"Oh, Jesus," Erica gasped, "I've got gunk in my throat!"

Jackie got up wearily and frowned at the withering, purple mass. "What happened back there?"

"This is what happened," Jennie panted, holding up her silver piece.

"I almost forgot about these things." Erica commented, clutching her gold part.

Jackie teased, "You always forget everything!"

"Oh, what about you, smart ass? You're the one who forgot about Tien-Xiang and the destruction of our world if we just went home! We ended up in an illusion for Ra's sakes!"

The boy chucked his bronze piece at the girl's head and then dodged when it was angrily thrown back. Suddenly, a purple arrow grazed Jennie's shoulder. Stunned, the girl fell forward. While Erica helped Jennie up before she fell onto the floor, Jackie saw the Realm morph into a huge cylinder. Soon, arrows came out of the new shape, and pelted the whole group with sharp darts.

"What the hell was that!" Erica shouted, the trio running for cover under a fallen wall.

Jackie swore and yelled to the two girls, "The Shadow Realm got stronger by sucking up our monsters! That thing is so freakin' strong right now that we can't possibly beat—"

The Realm changed again into a gigantic spider and rampaged after them. Getting up from their hiding place, the two girls and boy were about to run away until tentacles arose from the evil spider's back and wrapped around the teens. Sending a current of electricity through the tentacles, the three were electrocuted until they were smoking. Then it threw the three around, making them crash into anything that came within contact. Erica screamed in pain and Jennie was trying her best not to faint. Jackie was courageously biting back his own yells of agony. Abruptly, the spider-shaped Realm stopped torturing them and turned around. Eyes clouded by a bloody veil, Erica looked up weakly and saw Yami, Bakura, and Malik past the spider's legs. Isis was still knocked out was held aloft by her little brother. They looked pathetic; all four were bleeding, bruised, and scratched horribly, not to mention exhausted.

"Let them go," Yami wheezed, holding his Dark Magician card. Bakura didn't wait for favors, however, and summoned his strongest monster into the area.

Something rumbled in the Realm's body as it shook. It was…laughter.

With a quick slash, the blob chopped the monster in half and sent the albino careening into a wall. Swiftly, Yami ducked the second swinging tentacle and sent his Dark Magician towards the Shadow Realm. It was simply sucked into the Realm's body and shot sable lightning at the yami in response. He fell backwards into Malik and both were buried under a shower of boulders from the ceiling. Stubbornly, Bakura got up once again and took out another card. The blob seemed to get a bit annoyed at these nuisances since it simply threw Erica into him. Then the Realm lumbered back toward its destination, bigger than before.

"You better keep her safe, ya perv!" Jennie bellowed before going into the next room with the gob.

Jackie didn't say anything, but managed to throw his bronze and Jennie's silver blocks at the amber-eyed girl. For what reason, Erica didn't know. Soon, the air was silent.

Erica tried to figure out in what to do, but it was difficult. It was either saving Malik and Yami or her friends first. Then Bakura stood next to her and began to drag her away from the scene.

"What the hell are you doing!" the girl shouted. "I…We have to save them!"

"No, we don't," the albino growled.

Angrily, Erica pulled away from the man and backed away. "What do you mean 'No, we don't?'"

"I meant what I said! We are not going back in there to get killed!"

The girl slapped the boy across the cheek and yelled, "If we don't stop that thing, there _will_ be no home to go to! You know what? You're more of a bother to this mission than any help! You keep running away like a chicken and act like this'll all blow over. You are sadly mistaken! My friends, my REAL friends, are here, fighting with everything they have to stop the Shadow Realm and trying to defend me at the same time! But noooooo! _You_ had to run away. _You_ had to say that this was all a waste of time. Not for me, okay? Now, I'm going back in there and get hurt and dirty and do everything I can to save my friends. If you think that this is all a waste of time, GO HOME YOURSELF!"

Erica turned around and ran toward the big hole in which the Realm had gone through. Then Bakura stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"WHAT?" the female screamed. "YOU'RE GOING TO START YOUR CRAP AGAIN?"

"No…I will help you." the albino muttered, looking away. "I do not care for any of these people, but if you wish it, I will help you as much as I can. I will not leave you here alone to defend yourself."

Erica broke out into a big smile and wiped away the blood that was clouding her eyes. "Okay! B.K., help Yami and Malik out of those rock and get out of here. I'm going on ahead and destroy that thing. Don't you dare object, 'cause I _will_ slap you again, you understand?"

It was obvious that the man didn't like the arrangement, but his cheek was still stinging, so he obeyed. Before Erica could run off again, though, he quickly kissed her on the lips and something stung on the girl's hand as he held it.

The female stared at the albino in shock as he explained, "On your palm is my symbol so when you are in trouble, rub it. Please be safe and don't…don't get killed."

Erica smiled warmly and sprinted off. Just to be polite, she didn't spit her guts out until she was far away from the man's view.

* * *

"Damn it! Where the freakin' crap are they?" Erica complained, running through the halls. She was wondering in how hard it was to miss a humongous, purplish thing walking around, creating destruction everywhere it stepped, with two teenagers in its grasp shouting bloody murder on top of their lungs.

Stopping to rest, she felt a hard object clank in her jean pocket. Taking it out, she found the gold, silver, and bronze pieces. Wondering why Jackie had thrown these things at her, she analyzed the small objects individually. Then a movement in the sides attracted her attention. Erica saw that the pulleys and screws inside it were moving and glowing. Looking at the other pieces, they had them, too. Curious, she saw that the silver had two sides with mechanics in them and the gold and bronze only had one side of it.

"It's almost like a puzzle," Erica muttered to herself.

Shaking her head, she put the pieces back into her pockets and followed the debris. She ended up outside the mansion.

Erica gave out a cry of despair when she saw the Shadow Realm very close to the gate. "What the freakin' Jesus! It's almost out!"

The girl summoned her bird monster and rode it toward the big spider blob. When she was right above it, she saw Jackie and Jennie struggling in their purple bonds.

"Hi, guys!" Erica yelled, waving.

She was answered with profanity as the two friends ranted about how late she was, why she was so slow, and why the hell she was saying hello when it was clearly the time for saving.

Erica stuck her middle finger out for a response and told her bird monster to attack. It flew down and sent out a maelstrom of sharp feathers, chipping off some of the Shadow Realm's body. It didn't even notice. It was so determined to get outside of the gate so it could cause havoc to the whole city. The girl cursed and tried a different tactic. She cut the tentacles that held her friends instead. Gracefully, the air beast went down and received the two ticked off passengers.

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO DAMN LONG?" Jennie shrieked into Erica's ear. Jackie just barely grabbed her before she fell off from deafness.

The boy held the half-conscious girl and said seriously, "We have to find out a way to stop the Shadow Realm. If that thing goes beyond that gate, it can do anything and spread even more destruction."

Erica and Jennie nodded gravely and looked ahead of them. The blob was struggling to open the gate. Thank everything holy for Seto's security system.

"Anyone have any ides?" Erica asked.

Jennie immediately answered, "We have to bring that blob back to the mansion. It'll have a lesser chance of getting out."

"And we'll do that…how?" Jackie inquired skeptically.

The braided-hair teen smirked. "Just leave that to me."

With that, Jennie called upon Gate Guardian and rode on him towards the Realm. Jackie and Erica waited for her to come back near the mansion. Riding towards the Shadow Realm, Jennie started to throw taunts at it and sent minor trap cards to annoy it even more.

"Hey, ya big, spoiled marshmallow!" the girl yelled. "Bet' cha can't open that pathetic gate! You can't, you can't, you caaaaaaaan't!"

The Realm growled loudly and sent a sharp tentacle toward the girl. She dodged it.

"You suuuuuuuck! You're disgusting! Even bunnies are scarier than you are!"

The blob sent spikes toward her; it didn't work.

"Do you know who's the scariest being in the whole world? Barney! It's this stupid, purple dinosaur that sings gay songs and do gay activities and hang around kids who are retarded! The only thing you and that dino both have is that you're both purple! You must be so ashamed of your color!"

The Shadow Realm shot out a lighting bolt, but it completely missed its target.

"Oh my gosh! Even your aim sucks? What kind of Realm are you, ya fat—"

The gob stopped moving.

"—stupid—"

"Do you think Jen's going a bit too far?" Erica whispered. Jackie shrugged.

"—idiotic—"

The Realm faced Jennie.

"—disgusting—"

The Shadow Realm shuddered in anger.

"—worthless—"

The mass hissed and transformed in a gigantic cobra.

"—disgrace to the definition of goo!"

With a roar, the gooey thing shot forward with incredible speed. Luckily, it tackled into the Gate Guardian, but Jennie fell from it and was starting to plummet to the ground. Erica's air bird flew down like the wind, picked Jennie up, and rapidly flapped its wings toward the house. The snake-formed Realm demolished Jennie's monster and slithered behind them, growing faster by the minute since it was fueled with the desire to rip the trio apart.

"Oh, great, Jennie!" Erica said sarcastically. "You've made the thing so angry that it'll be stronger than before!"

"At least the plan's working!" the girl contradicted.

Jackie moaned as the mass was gaining speed. "What're we going to do when we get into the house, huh?"

Jennie bit her lip. "We'll figure that out when we get into the house. Right now, we have to survive this chase!"

With that, the company and chaser crashed through the roof of the mansion and ended up inside the house. Suddenly, the Shadow Realm jumped up and chomped on their air monster. Now the trio was beginning to fall to the rocky floor. Unfortunately, none of them had time to take out any card to protect themselves so they fell hard and tumbled painfully across the ground.

Since Erica had rolled the minute she collided with the floor and Jennie landed in a mound of dust, they were safe. However, Jackie had the bad luck to descend onto the shattered concrete floor. He lay still, but was still conscious. Hastily, the two girls went to their friend and noticed that there was something wrong with his upper body.

"Jackie, are you all right?" Erica asked, watching Jennie study the shape of the ribs.

Jackie closed his eyes tightly as he gasped, "I can't move. It…it hurts so much."

Erica looked at Jennie for an explanation for his pain. She answered, "Good news: your glasses survived the fall. Bad news is that you broke your ribs. Don't know how many."

The boy flinched in his pain and horror and Erica slapped her forehead.

"Just our luck!" the amber-eyed teenager yelled.

Then the cobra Shadow Realm appeared, hissing and ready to strike. Its fangs dripped an acid that made the floor melt. Coiling, it watched the girls get the boy up. When they were all standing, it started to laugh.

"Foolish mortals!" the snake jeered. "You cannot defeat me as long as my summoner is on my side! I have been so generously been brought back to this world by him and, as long as I am here, I will bathe in all your blood after I have killed you. After that, I will destroy this world and move on to yours where no one can stop me! I will grow stronger…and you will all die!"

Then it shot out like a pistol, mouth wide, fangs out, and ready to eat our heroes...

* * *

A/N: Hmm…Who is this "him" that the Shadow Realm speaks about? Do any of you remember the fellow at the end of chapter 19? Might it be him? If it is…could he be the real villain?

Anyway, I don't really have anything to say so…ON TO MY LOVELY REVIEWERS!

**Isis the Spinx**, **Akari Ishtaru**, **Hibiki-chan** (NEW REVIEWER!), and **candy-animelover600.**

And oh…TWO MORE CHAPTERS UNTIL THE STORY ENDS!

Just thought you wanted to know. (smiles widely)


	24. Chapter 24 The Key

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: TENTACLES!

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 24 – The Key

Erica opened her eyes slightly and looked around. They were still alive! The girl cheered and thanked Ra that her friends and she wasn't eaten by the cobra Shadow Realm. Talking about being eaten….

The girl shook Jennie to open her eyes and see what had happened. Jennie, who was overjoyed, started to dance around. Jackie, however, wasn't as happy as the dancing female.

"Look." he gasped, mostly from the pain from his broken ribs. "Those pieces are creating a barrier."

Erica looked up and saw that he was right. In front of the trio were the gold, silver, and bronze pieces emitting a curved shield. Beyond it was the Shadow Realm, furiously bashing against it and hissing.

The dark-haired girl whispered in awe, "What _are_ those things?"

Then Jennie popped out of nowhere and helped Jackie onto his feet. "No time to think that, Erica. We gotta get moving. Who knows how long those blocks will last."

Erica nodded absentmindedly and followed after Jennie as she dragged Jackie along. Only when the trio was three football fields away from the Shadow Realm did they stop to rest. Jennie set Jackie on the floor and then sat down next to him. Erica still stood.

"Erica, Jennie, we have to get those blocks back," Jackie said weakly.

Erica sharply turned her head at the boy and asked, "Why? You gave them to me before, but why did you?"

"Didn't you even notice that they could connect together into a card? Those things have helped us so many times, I was wondering if they could do any more. Maybe beat the Shadow Realm for example?"

Erica grew silent, but Jennie was puzzled.

"What about those blocks?" she said, tilting her head.

Erica muttered, "Those things have so much power…if combined…then…maybe we do have a chance to win!"

Before Jennie could ask about how they were going to connect the things, something flashed and hard objects landed in their palms. They were the gold, silver, and bronze blocks. Then the Shadow Realm came in, this time morphed as a Red Eyes Black Dragon. With an angry roar, it clambered toward the three, though keeping a safe distance.

"How did you acquire those forsaken keys?" it screamed, wings flapping like a bee. "Do you intend to banish me with them? How dare you summon those things!"

With a confused look, Erica asked, "These are keys?"

"Don't act stupid! If combined they can throw me back into that endless world that I will not live in again!" the Realm shouted.

Jennie said happily, "Oh, thank you, big lizard! You just made things a whole lot easier for us!"

Then the mass realized that the humans didn't know anything about the "keys." Frustrated that it had told them the secret to defeating itself, the Shadow Realm swung out its tail and struck the pieces out of their hands.

"Get it!" Jackie yelled.

When Erica turned to get her piece, the Shadow Realm sent out a gust of wind that toppled the girl and sent all the pieces into random places.

"I will not allow you to get them!" the lizard bellowed. It flew into the air and began to claw at the three.

Jennie laid faced down on the ground and shouted over the noise, "We have to get those things and combine them! If we lose them, it'll all be over!"

"But—" Erica spat out some dust, "but how can we get it? The pieces can be anywhere and the Shadow Realm is guarding those things from us with its life!"

Jackie kneeled on the floor and took out his Path Finder magic card. "We have to try!"

The card disappeared from his hand and in return showed three glows in where the blocks were. The hacker-boy yelled, "Get it! Hurry!"

While Jackie remained on the floor because of his injuries, the two females shot forward, dodging the Realm's sharp claws.

"Got it!" Jennie yelled, holding up her silver piece.

Suddenly, the Realm grabbed it out of her hand and swallowed it.

"Oh, yeah! Nice one, Jennie!" Erica snapped. She was still looking for the gold and bronze piece. The light guiding them grew weaker.

The braided-hair girl cursed and took out a trap card. "Epoch Rewind!"

As if the scene was rewinding, the Shadow Realm spat out the silver block and it flew to the girl's hand.

"Found it!" Erica yelled, showing the gold and bronze card blocks. Then she ducked when the Shadow Realm sent out a stream of red blasts that destroyed the wall next to her. With new energy, the two girls ran back to Jackie.

"We got it, Jackie! Now what?" Erica gasped for breath. She stooped down when the Realm flew past her head.

Jackie connected the bronze piece to the silver and gave it to Jennie. A slight wind picked up. "You have to connect yours, Jennie, or else it won't work!"

Jennie was about to grab the gold to connect the pieces together, but she was picked up and thrown to the other end of the room by the tail of the Realm lizard.

"Jennie!" Erica shrieked. The girl lay still.

"No!" Jackie shouted. Now the mysterious wind was whipping their faces, making it raw. "Erica, you have to finish the piece now!"

Again the Shadow Realm swooped down, but narrowly missed the amber-eyed female's head. The enemy crashed into a wall instead. Then the girl held her gold piece, but lost it because of the wind. Cursing, she grabbed it before it could fly away and stuffed the thing into the slot of the silver piece. It didn't fit.

"Jackie, this isn't the right one! It's a dud!" the girl yelled. Then she noticed the real gold block in the Shadow Realm's mouth.

Time seemed to slow as the Shadow Realm smiled and crushed the precious metal with its teeth. The gold fell down as dust. Jackie and Erica screamed in horror. Then time fast forward.

As if with new energy, the monster transformed into a huge black bear and punched Jackie's body away so it could get to Erica. The girl backed away on impulse and felt slightly light-headed as the wind whipped her hair on her face. With amused laughter, the bear pounced, claws opened for gore and blood.

Erica took out a card, any card, to stop the beast. At that moment, a huge, familiar, multicolored dragon arose from the card and took the fatal attack while blasting the Shadow Realm in the face. The summoned card floated down while the Shadow Realm twisted on the ground from pain. It was Monster Reborn. Taking a deep breath, she saw that even if her Elemental Dragon was destroyed from the attack, a strange gold dust from the dragon seemed to linger. With the wind becoming a powerful hurricane, it blew the Realm off its back and pinned it to the wall. Then the gold dust combined and became a new gold piece. It floated down to the only conscious human, defying the air around it.

Swiftly, Erica grabbed it out of the air. Before attaching the last piece to the card key, she looked at the Shadow Realm. It was struggling from its bonds and tried to transform into different things. The wind only held it tighter.

Standing up tall, the dark-haired girl connected the gold piece to the silver and bronze. As the pieces radiated a stream of light, now the wind twisting around the girl like it had found a new master. At the same time, the Shadow Realm got out of the binding gales and galloped to the girl in the form of a titanic wolf. Before it could even reach the female, though, the gusts flew forward and gashed the sides of it like knives. The Realm reeled backwards.

"How dare you try to invade a world that is not yours! How dare you attack the people I cherish and love as a family! How dare you invade Jennie's, Jackie's, and my life into a realm of chaos! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE!" Erica roared.

Then Jennie and Jackie went through the tornado surrounding Erica. In the corner of Erica's mind, she noticed that these were the spirits of her friends who left their bodies to be with her. Erica's two best friends put their hands on top of her shaking ones and guided her hand up to raise the now completed card. Erica closed her eyes and smiled. All these people, the ones she had met, were all family. She would never forget them. Not ever.

Then the trio's voices echoed as they cast their special spell:

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there.

"The three monsters of Light, Dark, and Element,

We are the three that will rampage the Earth.

We came from the heavens,

When legend became reality!"

Suddenly the spirits of Jennie and Jackie disappeared and the wind became even more powerful. Now the magical card rose up and Erica had to cover her face from the scathing windstorms. The combined card sent out a black beam into the ceiling and revealed a dark portal. The Shadow Realm screamed and roared as it tried to stay on the ground. However, resistance was futile and the purple mass was dragged into the portal.

Before it disappeared wholly into the dimension, it bellowed, reaching out at nothing in the turbulent air, "Help me! Help me, summoner! I can still succeed! I can still kill these mortals! Please!"

Something must've given back a response because the Realm roared in fury. Then it glared at Erica. "I will come back! I swear I will! When I do, I will kill you, the summoner, and all! I WILL COME BACK!"

After that…it vanished.

The wind dissipated and the portal closed. The card dropped down onto the ruined floor and cracked into a million pieces, its job finally completed.

Erica stood standing there, mind not yet comprehending that she, with the help of Jennie and Jackie, had defeated the infamous Shadow Realm. By the time she did, though, the house shuddered and everything began to crumble. Erica was pulled backwards by somebody as a huge part of the ceiling fell on where she had stood. The girl turned around and saw Jennie, holding Jackie by the arm. They were conscious and safe.

Hugging her two friends briefly, the female asked in what was wrong with the house.

Sensible Jackie answered, "The Shadow Realm alone had held up this place and when you sucked it back into its own world, all the destruction that it had made is starting to take effect. Soon this place will be in ruins!"

"And more bad news is that there is no way out! All the exits are blocked!" Jennie added.

Erica took out a Dynamite trap card. "Then we have to make a new exit!"

"It's not that simple!" the hacker-boy cut in. "The cards can't come to life now that the Realm is gone! We're back on the normal plane!"

"What do we do then! DIE?"

Jackie smiled and shrugged. "I never really expected to get out of here alive."

Jennie groaned and winced as another part of the wall collapsed.

"Then if we can't get out, we have to find a way to survive!" Erica reasoned. "There! Hide under that ledge!"

When everyone piled under a piece of debris from the wall, Jennie asked, laying Jackie down, "What about the others? Are they okay?"

"They're safe. I told Bakura to get out of here with the other people," the amber-eyed lass said. Then Erica spotted a strange mark on her hand. It was the Eye of Horus.

_"…On your palm is my symbol so when you are in trouble, rub it. Please be safe and don't…don't get killed…"_

This was the symbol from Bakura! Then Erica began to rub the symbol furiously.

"What the heck are you doing?" Jennie asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm trying to send a signal to—"

Before Erica could finish, however, the ceilings and walls all collapsed at the same time. It buried the trio under and everything grew dark, Erica's hand hanging limply outside the rubble, the strange symbol glowing red.

* * *

A/N: LAST CHAPTER AT FRIDAY AHOY! WOOOOOOOOOOT!

Anyway, I'd like to thank the reviewers first before I go on with my message! So, here they are!

**Hi**, **Meow-Sama** (thanks for your advice), **egyptluvergurl**, **Akari Ishtaru**, **Isis the Spinx**, **candy-animelover600**, **ElementalDemoness23**, and **fairys'maiden**!

Wow…so many reviewers this time…and you all loved Jennie's insults from the last chapter! Hah! I had fun writing them.

Alrighty, now! As I have said before, PLEASE REVIEW CARD CAPTOR SAKURA BASIC PLOT AND CHARACTERS TO PREPARE FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF PROPHECY! It is very important to do so since Prophecy Beta, as it is so named, will have (hint, hint) something to do with that world. To the people who have the inconvenience of looking up Card Captor Sakura because they know nothing of it or don't like it at all, I am very sorry. I just hope you will have the same amount of fun reading Beta as I hope you will with the other readers that know CCS.

SEE YA AT FRIDAY!

And, oh, before I forget, I will be posting a preview to Prophecy Beta at Saturday, so head ups for that, too!


	25. Chapter 25 Going Back

**Prophecy**

Disclaimer: THE LAST CHAPTER! AHHHH!

"When legend becomes reality,

Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,

Of light, dark, and element.

Look to the Heavens,

They will come from there…"

Chapter 25 – Going Back

"Agad…" a girl with dark hair and amber-brown eyes moaned, sitting up on a very comfy bed. Every single part of her body ached and cracked from lack of usage.

Then another female beside her hissed and clutched onto the amber-eyed girl's arm for support. She had light brown hair that was wavy from her loose braid and had brown eyes.

"JESUS, NOT THAT ARM!" the dark-haired lass screamed. She conked her best friend on the head.

In shock, the braided-hair girl landed on the boy next to her, who woke up from pain since the female jabbed her elbow into his ribs. The boy (with black hair and eyes) fell off the bed and his glasses fell off the side table with him. He groaned.

"Sorry, Jackie." Jennie muttered, flipping over onto her back. "Where the hell are we?"

Erica shrugged and winced from her movement. "I don't know, but my body really hurts….Even my hair hurts!"

Jackie sat up from the floor and put on his glasses. Squinting around, he concluded, "I think we're in Tien-Xiang's house."

"How'd we get here? Last thing I remember was being buried by rubble," Jennie said, scratching her head.

Erica got off the bed in an excruciating slow pace and stated, "I'm going to investigate. Help me."

"Oh, HELL NO!"

"God, I am NOT moving."

The complaints continued until Erica threw her pillow at them. She had to use her left arm since her right was in a sling…which she just noticed. Looking up, Erica gazed at her friends' damage. Jennie's head was bandaged and both of her arms were completely covered up with linen bandages while Jackie had a strange elastic vest around his upper body that constricted his movements. No wonder they hurt like crap.

"Oh, fine. Be that way," Erica snapped irritably.

Jennie stuck her middle finger up at her in response and Jackie just plunked back down to the floor. The amber-eyed girl limped to the door and just when she was about to open it, it swished open itself and the mysterious person crashed into her. Erica fell down. Looking up with fury, she saw Yami Bakura who seemed a bit apologetic.

"Welcome back," he smiled.

* * *

In a few minutes time, the trio had learned in what had happened after the mansion crashed in on the three.

Since it was too dangerous to go into the mansion while it was still falling down and professional help was lagging, Yami and the other team who had entered the Shadow Realm had to call Teá, Joey, and Tristan to help them in a payphone. It took at least three hours to wait for the smoke to clear and by that time Kaiba and Tien-Xiang also came.

It took six more hours for the search and the neighbors were finally smart enough to call the rescue stations. Luckily, Tristan and Teá had found the three before things got complicated. The group went into Tien-Xiang's van (he had a lot of cars) and drove off just when the fire department came along. Bakura healed some of the trio injuries and everyone else had gone home that day. Seto had to remain since, of course, he had to live in Tien's house now. Ever since that day, the three had been unconscious for four weeks.

Jackie, Erica, and Jennie all heard this from Tien-Xiang, Seto, Bakura, and everyone else who had taken part in the mission when B.K. called everyone that the three had woken up.

"How did you find us? I mean, we could've been anywhere and…well…_anywhere_ under that debris," Erica asked.

Tien winked, "Well, that was fairly easy since you, Erica, gave out the signal in where you were. Remember Bakura?"

Erica's eyes grew big from surprise and Bakura looked away blushing.

"What signal? What about Bakura?" Jennie inquired suspiciously.

"Well, Bakura over there engraved his symbol on Erica's palm so if she was in trouble, she was to rub it. Apparently, she did and the albino was a sort of 'Erica detector,'" the hacker-boy's uncle answered.

Jackie and Jennie looked at Erica's palm and saw no mark. Laughing, Tien-Xiang continued, "It's not there anymore, of course. It's a one time use. However…if Erica wanted to have it again, she would have to exchange something of hers with Bakura…which means saliva to saliva if you know what I mean."

Jennie's widened. Then she wiggled her eyebrows at her female friend and nudged, "Heeeey, getting closer now, aren't we?"

Erica started to choke the braided hair girl and Seto fumed. Everyone laughed.

"What about the Shadow Realm?" Jackie said warily. "Is it gone?"

Erica stopped trying to kill Jennie and Jennie herself stopped smacking her friend so they could hear the response.

Tristan, who was told of the whole story (Teá and Joey included) grinned, "It's gone! All of it!"

The trio looked at each other. Then they grinned big and wide, cheering their heads off as they hugged. Slowly, eventually, they cried from happiness, too.

The war was finally over.

* * *

Another few weeks passed by and school was about to begin soon. The trio had fully healed and spent every single minute hanging around with their new friends, the Yu-Gi-Oh cast. Of course, the three teens had to tell that they belonged in a dimension in which the YGO cast was actually a T.V. show. To be honest, they didn't believe the three, but after some embarrassing blackmailing comments from Jennie, they finally believed them. They took it quite nicely, actually ("Cool! I'm famous!" Joey chirped).

While everyone had fun, Tien-Xiang was hard at work (with some help from the trio and Seto when they had the time) in putting up the return home portal. At the last week of vacation, it was finally ready.

* * *

"You know," Erica started, arm in arm with her friends as they walked down to the basement, "the Shadow Realm said something really weird before it disappeared."

Jennie blinked. "Really? Are you sure it wasn't the usual 'I'm-Going-To-Have-Revenge-When-I-Come-Back speech?"

The amber-eyed girl shook her head as she replied, "No, it said something like, 'Help me! Help me, summoner! I can still succeed! I can still kill these mortals! Please!' It was really weird."

"Hey, now that I think about it, the Shadow Realm did mention something about being summoned by this person and that person being on its side the time when I broke my ribs," Jackie pondered.

Erica gasped, "Do you think there's another person behind the Shadow Realm? What if the Realm was just a decoy or something?"

The trio looked at each other.

"Nah!" they chorused, chuckling.

Finally, the three reached the door to the basement.

"Well, let's get this over with!" Jennie sighed contently.

With happy smiles, Jackie, Jennie, and Erica pushed open the door and went down the stairs to say goodbye to their friends one last time.

* * *

Jennie joked around with Joey and Tristan, talking about her birthday party (good times) and Jackie laughed loudly when Teá told him that she liked Yugi now. The hacker-boy laughed even harder when Yugi pulled him aside and told him the same thing; the two lovebirds liked each other. Malik and Isis went back to Egypt and had said their goodbyes already. They didn't like to say sayonara in person—it was too emotional.

"Come on, Erica!" Jackie yelled, standing in front of the portal.

"Yeah!" Jennie teased. "Say goodbye to your fans already!"

Erica rolled her eyes and faced Seto and Bakura. "Now, behave you two. Don't go at each others' throats."

Seto and Bakura glanced at each other and looked away, not even _wanting_ to comprehend each other.

"Er…you can do that, too." Erica drifted. "Oh, Seto, do you have a place to live since we…uh…kinda ruined your home?"

Joey called out, "More like destroying the whole thing to rubble!"

Everyone snickered.

Seto ignored them. "Yes, I do. Tien-Xiang is coming back to your world with you and he gave me this house to keep."

Erica nodded and turned to Bakura.

"Yes, I won't send anyone innocent into the Shadow Realm again," the albino drawled.

The girl beamed and bent down to Mokuba. She hugged him and said playfully, "Keep an eye on your big brother for me. Don't let him turn into a pig-headed jerk again."

The little boy giggled as he promised. Seto twitched and everyone gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like, "Yeah, right." Suddenly, Erica embraced the two men into a big hug.

"See ya later, you two," she whispered into their ears. The boys hugged her back.

Erica reluctantly walked away and faced her two best friends. They smiled at each other and held hands. The three took one last look at the basement and all of their friends. Teá was sniffing tearfully as Tristan and Joey tried hard to keep back their tears. Waving, they turned to the portal that had electricity fizzing inside it. It reminded them of the Shadow Realm. Jennie shivered and Erica comforted her by holding tighter onto her hand. Taking in deep breaths, the trio nodded at Tien-Xiang.

Then they walked into the portal happy, secure…

…And ready to go home.

* * *

A/N: I am DONE! (starts to dance around, doing the chicken dance). PROPHECY IS OVER PEOPLE! YEEEEEEES! EVERYONE, CELEBRATE! (starts to sing the Celebrex commercial song) CELEBRATE, CELEBRATE, COME ON AND CELEBRATE! OH, YEAH!

Okay, enough of my weird antics. To all the reviewers, I want to thank you for sticking with me till the very end. You don't know how happy it makes me to know that this story has not only gone beyond the hundred reviews limit, but you all have supported me so kindly with every chapter that I have updated. I also thank you guys for the constructive criticism. Without all of you, this story would still be on the first chapter…AND HERE ARE THE REVIEWERS!

**Akari Ishtaru**, **candy-animelover600**, **Isis the Sphinx**, **fairys'maiden**, **Meow-Sama**, **Pink and Silver Tigress**(NEW REVIEWER!), **Hi**,and **ElementalDemoness23**.

Since the story is over, you don't really have to review, but it would be nice…

Anyway, come back again tomorrow to get a preview of Prophecy Beta!


	26. Prophecy Beta Preview

**Prophecy Beta**

Disclaimer: I don't own Card Captor Sakura.

"When darkness comes,

And all warriors are down,

Three heroes will come and stand.

With their mighty elemental strengths,

They will banish the enemy once more,

Their second victory of their prophecy…"

Chapter 1 – Problem

Something was wrong. Very, _very_ wrong…and the trio, Jennie, Jackie, and Erica knew it.

They had just saved the Yu-Gi-Oh world from the Shadow Realm as it leaked into the planet by far too much use of it. It threatened to destroy the trio's and the Yu-Gi-Oh world. So, by the help of Jackie's uncle Tien-Xiang and the other Yu-Gi-Oh cast members, they had defeated it and was able to go home back to their real dimension through a man-made portal…which brings us to where they are right now.

"We should be home by now!" Erica yelled, trying her best to hold on to her friends' hands.

Jennie saw images flashing past them, looking eerily familiar. "Maybe it's just taking longer than normal!"

Jackie gripped Erica's hand even tighter and added fearfully, "Do you feel that?"

They did. Something invisible was pressing against them as if forcing passage through their solid bodies.

"Don't let go!" Erica said, gritting her teeth.

However, the mysterious force broke through and soon the trio disappeared into a completely different world, into a whole new destination named…

Card Captor Sakura.

* * *

(A/N2: Hey, guys. I won't be updating Prophecy Beta for a week or two weeks…I recommend putting me on Author Alert to know when it's going to be posted. Chances are, I'll probably post in a week. GOTTA KEEP YOU REVIEWERS HANGING!) 


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